Teen Titans: Shadows
by Seth Turtle
Summary: Book I. Raven risks using her emotions because she feels like an outsider among her friends. But with the darkest evil waiting to escape her soul, Raven may have to make the ultimate sacrifice for the ones she loves.
1. Eight Sisters

Raven giggled as she ran to an aquarium window and watched the dolphins swim around playfully. She wasn't dressed in her usual sorceress uniform today, as it wasn't chic when it came to a date. (And Raven _so_ wanted to be chic!) She was dressed in a pair of blue jeans and a purple sweater, both of which hugged her nicely. Her sneakers were fashionable and kept her feet comfortable more than her uniform slippers ever could.

"Look at them go!" Raven exclaimed as Beast Boy came up behind her. He too was dressed in street clothes, complete with a baseball cap worn backwards. Of course, his green face still gave away his inhuman nature. Luckily, he and Raven were celebrities and were respected by most of San Francisco's populace, even though they were 'different'.

"They're happy to see you," Beast Boy said before giving Raven a kiss on the cheek. Raven giggled again and pushed her tease of a boyfriend away. "They get _this_ excited only when a pretty girl comes to the window."

"I bet," Raven said suspiciously. She gave Beast Boy a sly look and motioned for him to come closer. Beast Boy smiled and met his girlfriend in a tight hug. She leaned in and whispered into his ear.

(Let's find a cozy place to snuggle, Tiger.)

Beast Boy leaned back to respond, and his eyes went wide with terror. He pushed Raven away with enough force to bruise her shoulder against the dolphin window. He continued to back away.

"Beast Boy... what's the matter?" Raven asked fearfully. She reached out for him, only to notice that her hands had changed dramatically. Rather than being slender and pale, her hands were red and scaly!

"You're a monster!" Beast Boy exclaimed before making a break for it.

"Don't go!" Raven cried. She looked at her hands again in disbelief, and her gaze eventually fell to the dolphin window. She saw the vague reflection of her face, now transformed into something as disturbing as her hands. Her face was completely red and scaled and she had an extra pair of eyes. All four of her eyes were solid yellow. Her teeth were now fanged, and a pair of horns protruded from her head.

_This can't be..._

"Titans, go!"

Raven saw the other Titans rushing into the aquarium, led by Beast Boy. Raven cried for them to stop, but her pleas fell on deaf ears. Robin threw a bird-line and trapped her arms at her sides. He flicked the line through a beam above and pulled it at the other end, dragging Raven helplessly into the air. The Titans glared at her with malicious intent.

"Look at her," Cyborg sneered. "She's not even human."

"She is strange," Starfire said, almost afraid. "I cannot understand her."

Raven shouted for them to stop saying those things, but all that came out were several demonic growls. Raven covered her mouth to stop the noise.

"Why does she always act so high and mighty?" Robin accused.

"She can't be trusted," Terra scorned.

Beast Boy stalked forward and slowly changed into a large gorilla. "She's a monster. She needs to be destroyed before she can spread the evil inside her."

Beast Boy balled up his fists and reared back with both. With earth-shattering force, he brought them together on Raven's head, crushing it with one blow.

_NO!_

Raven shot to a sit-up position, panting heavily into the darkness. It took her a moment to realize where she was. She was in her room at Titans Tower. It was the middle of the night, and she was all alone. Nobody was there to hurt her. Raven sighed and fell back, her head landing on her pillow. It was just a dream. A horrible, nightmarish dream.

_I don't know which would be worse - being a demon, or being Beast Boy's bimbo._ Raven pulled her blanket over her face, and groaned.

--

_** The tune for "Teen Titans, Go!" begins and shows the opening credit animation. **_

When there's trouble, you know who to ca~ll! Teen Titans!

From their tower, they can see it a~ll! Teen Titans!

When there's evil on the attack,

you can rest knowing they've got your back!

Cuz when the world needs heroes on patro~l! Teen Titans, GO!

With their super powers they uni~te! Teen Titans!

Never met a villain they didn't li~ke! Teen Titans!

They've got the bad guys on the run!

They'll never stop 'til the job gets done!

When the world is losing all contro~l! Teen Titans, GO!

1-2-3-4-GO! Teen Titans!

**Shadows – Part 1**

The Titans woke up in the early morning as usual. There was no telling when an alarm would go off signaling an emergency in the city. Plus, all the Titans had hobbies or appointments in the city that required early morning hours. Raven was no different, but this morning she didn't have any appointments to make. The only thing on her mind was that dream she had. It was rare for her to have a dream that affected her so strongly. She lied in bed and contemplated the dream.

_Is it prophetic?_ Raven wondered. Being a magician and an empath meant that Raven's dreams often held a deeper meaning. But it scared her, knowing that the dream included Beast Boy so prominently. The dream may have been trying to tell her something about Beast Boy and her relationship with him. Would they someday be something more than friends?

Raven frowned at the thought. Not with Terra around. She and Beast Boy seemed to be having a good time with each other already.

_The dream might mean nothing at all_, Raven realized. Just because she was empathic didn't meant that _all_ her dreams were prophecies. Her energies were probably out of alignment for some reason or other. That made more sense than the possibility of her finding Beast Boy attractive. _Or vice versa._

_No woman in her right mind could find that idiot attractive._ Raven sat up and arched her back, popping several vertebrae in her spine before exhaling. _Much less kiss him. I don't know what Terra sees in him._

The empath went to take a shower, continuously thinking about how untrue the dream was. She would never flirt or be so air-headed as to giggle. Granted, she sometimes imagined herself that way in another life, without the constraints she had to place on her emotions because of her heritage. But she couldn't honestly picture herself living like that.

Even if she were free from her father's evil and free to express her emotions, she would not choose Beast Boy as someone to express them too. He was loud, stupid, painfully basic, and lacked any sense of style. His idea of an interesting book was an "Archie's Pals and Gals" comic digest. His jokes weren't funny, and he couldn't understand the complexity of the human mind, especially when it came to the opposite sex. He probably didn't know that girls had brains; his examination of a girl's qualities started and finished with the skin.

_He's a pig._ Of all the animals he could change into, that one suited him best.

Raven shampooed all thoughts of Beast Boy away and tried to forget what she did with him in her dream. She would never think of Beast Boy as anything more than a gibbering buffoon.

Raven left the shower and toweled off. She put on her uniform as she dried her hair with a handy magic trick. She sat down at her dresser and combed her hair slowly, her mind drifting from thought to thought. She avoided thoughts of Beast Boy, which continued to pop up with irritating frequency. That dream bothered her so much, it was unbearable. She had to focus her attention on something else today. Starfire and her were planning to go to the mall to find street clothes for the alien to wear, so changing her focus should be simple.

When Raven finished combing, she left her room and headed for the den. True to her expectations, the other Titans were milling about and eating breakfast. Starfire and Robin were busily reading through the sports section together, with Robin explaining the various sports and players to the redhead. Cyborg and Beast Boy were worshiping at the church of Gamestation and 'Super Racer EX'. Raven noted the intensity of their game and made a slow beeline for the table.

"Ah! Good morning, Raven!" Starfire said brightly with her usual politeness. "Were you able to sleep well?"

"...Not well enough," Raven drolly replied. She glanced at the kitchen, where the remnants of breakfast were, and triggered some of her magic. A handful of utensils and plates animated and danced around what was left of Cyborg's cooking. The utensils scooped and organizing food onto the plate in the portions that Raven preferred.

Raven returned her attention to Starfire once the magic was underway. "I'm a little tired."

"That must be so, if you wish to use your magic for such a simple activity." Starfire spoke her words methodically but expertly. It was hard to tell, but English was difficult for her.

Raven's plate and utensils flew in formation to the table and landed gently in front of her. She began to eat, calmly cutting her eggs and toast into smaller bites and eating each morsel one at a time. Starfire watching the magician eat when Robin finished explaining the sports to her. Eventually, she pranced over to the entertainment rack where the gang's CDs, DVDs, and magazines were, and picked out a random one to read on the couch beside Cyborg.

Now was as good a time as any, Raven thought, to ask about the blond. She looked up at the newspaper across from her. "Where's...?"

"Out," Robin replied instantly. "She said she had an important errand to run downtown, and she wanted to be alone for a while. It's seems she's still getting used to communal living."

Raven nodded slowly and returned to her meal. Robin continued speaking without lowering his paper. "You don't trust her, do you." He kept his voice low, so that the others didn't hear their conversation.

"I don't, but that's not the reason I asked." She didn't elaborate, and instead took another careful bite of her food.

Robin lowered his newspaper. "Something happen between you two?"

"No." Raven answered his questions without complaint. Of all the people on the team, Raven trusted him most with her secrets, and her feelings. It was the two of them that started the Teen Titans in the first place, so they shared a special bond of leadership. The other members looked to them for leadership and support, and they looked to each other for advice on serious matters. And they both knew when to pry, and when not to.

"Terra moving in has affected all of us," Robin said, folding up the morning paper and laying it neatly at the center of the table. "Starfire and Cyborg are getting along with her easily. And Beast Boy seems to be spending a lot of time with her..."

Raven curled her eyebrow. Talking to Robin was almost as bad as talking to a psychic. But she played it coolly and hid her expression expertly. "If it means him bothering me less, then I'm glad she's here."

"Of course," Robin said with a tone of pity. "Training isn't until the afternoon. Be sure to keep track of time during your meditation." He left the table to join the others in the den, and immediately declared that he would play the winner between Cy and Beast Boy. Judging from the whimpering, it sounded like Cyborg would be the winner of that match.

As usual, Raven was by herself and the other Titans were "over there". It didn't matter what day it was, or where they were. Raven always ended up standing alone, like a statue on a deserted island. Granted, she preferred to be alone. But sometimes - just sometimes - it bothered her to see her friends playing some silly game that she didn't know how to play. It made her feel like there was a gap between her and them, and the gap seemed to grow wider and wider every day.

Now, with Terra in the picture, the gap was a crevice with a single, rickety bridge allowing her to reach the other side. Her emotional vents were growing fewer and fewer without Beast Boy there to bug her, or Starfire and Cyborg to spend quiet time with her. Everyone seemed to enjoy Terra's company more than hers, now. Was it just her imagination, or was she becoming the odd-man-out?

Raven stood and placed her empty plate in the sink before turning to leave the room. She quietly walked to the edge of the den as she always did when she went to meditate in private. But today, she stopped at the entrance and waited. Her eyes remained forward, but her ears were focused on those behind her. She waited for one of them to comment about her - even _think_ about her. She would hear it either way.

Nothing came.

She peeked over her shoulder at her friends in the den. All of them were laughing with each other and focused on their game and their general feeling of brotherhood. None of them even had a stray thought for her. They'd grown used to her slinking in and out of a room unnoticed, like a dog. It was unavoidable, but disheartening.

Raven turned and resumed her lonely walk into the shadows.

Meditating after waking up seemed like a waste to the lesser minded. Why meditate – an act that was as close to sleeping as you could get without sleeping – just after you woke up? Raven didn't bother to explain it to those who asked. Sleeping and meditating were totally different things to a true mystic. In one, your consciousness is in a dream state and has little to no effect on the body or the psychic functions it can generate. In the other, you had full control over your psychic potential and can affect every part of your physical and spiritual self. It is difficult to meditate properly, but doing so unleashed incredible benefits to a mystic. It recharged energy, both physical and spiritual, and allowed them to sort their thoughts with ease.

And right now, Raven valued that bonus effect more than the others. She had thoughts that needed to be sorted out.

Raven floated just above the ground and crossed her legs. She turned to face the rising sun and closed her eyes. She rested the backs of her palms on her knees and joined her thumbs and middle fingers together. She relaxed her body, gently exhaled, and focused her energies on the chakra stone bound to her forehead.

Lastly, Raven triggered a simple magic spell and summoned her Mind Mirror from her room below. The artifact rested on the ground before her, its mirrored side facing up.

"Azarath..." Her voice echoed against the very fabric of reality. Her magic grew and folded around her, forming a bubble of light that unfolded like a flower petal until it became a runic circle on the ground.

"Metrion..." The circle flashed brightly and sent its power towards the heavens above. The sound of the magical byproduct was like that of crashing waves, but not as loud and barely physical. It was enough to make her cape flail about as if caught in stormy winds.

"Zinthos!" Raven hissed. The meditation had begun.

Raven opened her eyes, and found herself standing at the gate of her own mind. As she'd explained to Beast Boy and Cyborg, Raven could enter her own mind through meditation and the use of this magical mirror given to her by the high mage of Azarath. It was a device she needed if she was to control herself.

Any mystic could enter their own mind and see glimpses of its confines. But Raven had to turn her own mind into a prison. That required a lot more magic muscle. This mirror and her techniques gave her that muscle. But sometimes – like today – Raven wished she didn't have to deal with magic, the mind, or her interdimensional demonic deity of a father. Sometimes, she just wished she could be a normal, carefree, joyful teenage girl.

Raven looked at the stone road ahead. This was the same "road" that Beast Boy and Cyborg used when they accidentally entered her mind with the mirror. The only difference was that they didn't have to meditate to summon the gate to get here. That was one of the downsides of having a mind built like a prison – easy for others to get in, but not so easy for them to get out.

With a thought, Raven activated the gate a few stones ahead of her. This was the gate that Beast Boy and Cyborg used to enter and exit the different "realms" of her mind, populated by her 'sisters'. There were seven or eight versions of Raven in her own mind, each of them an astral manifestation of her "imprisoned" emotions and the magics associated with them. During her fight with one of them, Anger, she was able to tap into these suppressed magics by tapping into those emotions, if only for a moment. Luckily, Trigon's manifestation was defeated before it could escape.

The stone steps formed a more solid path in front of her, and Raven used the newfound path to walk to the gate. She ignored the four-eyed ravens guarding it, and they ignored her as well. They were magical and under her control, so they ignored her and her sisters for the most part. Apparently, Beast Boy and Cyborg fought with the birds and almost lost. Good thing Happy showed up in time to save them.

Raven stepped through the gate and appeared in another section of her mind world. This one looked like a spooky old castle out of some B-rated horror movie. It even had bats flying across the moon above and leafless trees lining the road that led to the castle door. Raven ignored the environment and walked the path to the castle – the gathering place for all the souls in this mind world. It was here that Raven could find the answer she was looking for.

Raven stopped at the archway that protected the doorway from rainstorms that never occurred. Hanging against the inside of the archway was a wooden board with several wooden name tags hanging from one of two hooks. One row of hooks symbolized the "people" who were present, and the other row showed who was not present. Raven went through the name tags out of curiosity.

Brave – _green rune_ – "home"  
Gross – _orange rune_ – "home"  
Pain – _brown rune_ – "home"  
Timid – _gray rune_ – "home"

Anger – _red rune with message, "Sealed"_  
Happy – _pink rune_ – "not home"  
Hate – _blue rune –_ "not home"  
Raven – _purple rune_ – "not home"  
Smart – _yellow rune_ – "not home"

Raven moved her tag to the "home" row and pushed open the front door with ease. She walked inside the well-lit, somewhat drafty castle, and waited as the door shut behind her. Raven looked around at the various paths she could take in this hallway, and eventually decided to try the dining hall. 'They' usually met there to sit by the fireplace. Raven still didn't understand what astral spirits needed a fireplace or a dining room for, but anytime she asked they would just shake off the question and comment on how lucky Raven was to have a body.

Before she could open the door, someone else opened it from the inside. Raven bumped into a gray-robed copy of herself who seemed to be on the verge of tears. She looked up at the mystic's eyes, then darted them back down to the floor a moment later.

"G-good morning, Other Me," she greeted formally. "I-I'm really sorry for bumping into you. I should watch where I'm going."

"It wasn't your fault," Raven said, putting a hand on Timid's trembling shoulder. The girl seemed more worked up than usual. "What's the matter now?"

Timid looked into the room, then back up at Raven. Even though they were the same height, Timid seemed smaller because she slouched meekly. Plus, she just had so little presence that it was easy to disregard her even if she was right in front of you.

Raven looked over Timid to see two other copies of herself having a food fight with various desert pastries – presumably whatever it was they ate, stylized to look like real food. One of the spirits was wearing a green cloak and had a wild, confident look in her eyes. The other wore an orange cloak and was laughing with an irritating rasp, not unlike that little child Gizmo that tormented the Titans on occasion.

"Take this, bubble butt!" Gross shouted before chucking a cherry pie at her opponent. Brave easily dodged to the side, and the pie splattered on the ground harmlessly.

"What'd you call me, you smelly brat!?" Brave snapped. She threw a shortcake and narrowly missed the back of Gross' head. Brave followed up with all the trimmings, and managed to pelt her messy double with several strawberries and a glop of whip cream.

"I said your behind is as big as a house and twice as breezy!" Gross taunted. She picked up another pie with telekinesis and threw it with all her might. Brave ducked, and the pie sailed across the room towards the doorway. Before they could react, Raven and Timid were slapped by two halves of the same custard dessert.

"Oh crud!" Gross gawked when she saw Raven. Brave had a similar expression, but she seemed more amused than fearful.

Timid's soft eyes shook from her embarrassment. It wasn't long before she started crying beneath her gray hood. Timid ran from the room and down the castle hall, losing herself in one of the many passageways there.

"Now look what you did!" Brave said. "You made the 'baby' cry!"

"It wasn't my fault! _You_ ducked!"

"Shut up!"

"_You_ shut up!"

"BOTH of you shut up!" Raven yelled. Both spirits hastily obeyed. Brave folded her arms and turned her head defiantly, while Gross used that moment to scratch her armpit, which had grown sweaty during the fight.

"You sure know how to make an entrance," Brave quipped. Raven glared at her coldly, and she just smiled in response. Brave knew she was in trouble, but she was the kind of girl who thrived on trouble. It was her way of getting attention.

"Where's Smart?" Raven demanded. "I need to speak with her."

"She's out with Happy, dealing with some _destrado_ spirit causing trouble," Gross said. She jumped onto a cushioned sofa and sprawled unceremoniously with her legs wide open for the world to see. "I think they got tired of hanging out."

"Can't blame 'em," Brave added. "It gets pretty dull, being stuck in the astral plane for a decade-and-some." Again, Raven just glared and didn't humor her with an answer.

A Destrado... that was a nightmarish spirit formed by negative energy. Psychics had to deal with them on occasion. Raven's unique heritage made that happen more often, since she had a lot of negative energy, even when compared to her less-than-cheerful nature. Beast Boy and Cyborg got a taste of what a Destrado could do when they visited last. The two-faced statue with the swords was a Destrado. Timid knew it was waiting for them at the end of the maze, but she couldn't bring herself to warn them or fight it herself. Brave, of course, dealt with it rather handily.

"What did you want to talk about?" Gross asked. She wiped a piece of pie off her face and slurped it off her finger, making Raven wince visibly. She couldn't believe _that_ was part of her.

"...Nothing important," Raven lied. "But if they come in, don't let them leave."

"Are you going somewhere?"

Raven headed out the door. "I'm going to apologize for what you two did."

Gross quickly protested. "But I-!"

"Just clean up the mess," Raven ordered. The dining room door shut behind her of its own volition.

Brave scowled at the door and bowed mockingly. "Yes, sahib." She waved her hands once, and every food item in the room shot into the fireplace like a bullet before burning to ashes. Gross watched in stunned silence, then waited apprehensively for Brave to sit down and start brooding.

Timid usually ran to the library when she wanted to be alone. Her and Smart were the only two who seemed to know the library existed. Raven's other selves found the place boring. All you could do there was read books containing memories and information from Raven's past. Timid liked to read the books and use them to experience the world outside Raven – a world she'd only experienced in their youth, when Raven was still able to express her emotions. That was before her first "accident".

Timid hid in an alcove on the second floor of the library. She sat in an enclosed corner, obscured from the main walkway by bookshelves and decorative greenery. She cried over a book worn from age and continuous use. It was Timid's favorite book, and one she treasured above all the other memories she'd read.

Raven walked into the alcove where the bookshelves were labeled "15", meaning they were from Raven's most recent memories. Timid heard her approach and hastily closed the book before shoving it into the desk in front of her. She tried to bury herself in her cloak as Raven walked into view beside one of the shelves.

"I'm sorry," Timid apologized. She wrung her hands anxiously in her lap. "Please don't be mad."

"Why would I be mad?" Raven muttered, trying her best not to sound irritated. She'd done this way too often to not be irritated by it. "It _wasn't_ your _fault_."

Timid went silent. Raven walked over and took a seat next to her, making the other girl cringe. Timid's territorial bubble was very wide and very easy to disrupt, even with her other selves. Raven looked down at the desk and opened it slowly. She reached into the drawer and pulled out the memory book carefully. Timid turned her face shyly, her cheeks burning with embarrassment. The title of the memory was "Us at the Beach, June 9th".

Raven opened the book curiously to the first page. The page had a polaroid sized window, which started to play a scene like a home movie. Starfire was flouncing around in the sand, showing off a new, frilly bikini bought specifically for this occasion. She giggled characteristically and displayed herself to the world.

_"Raven, how do I look?"_ the recorded Starfire asked.

_"I don't know Star. This isn't my thing."_ Raven exhibited her usual grumpy behavior. The view panned to the right, where Robin and Cyborg were throwing the football around. Starfire bounced over to join them, and Robin ended up getting sidetracked by her appearance. Cyborg's next pass slammed into the side of Robin's face, making him fall over face-first into the sand. Both Cyborg and Starfire laughed hysterically, and Robin jumped up to pursue Cyborg to get his revenge.

Raven, in the library, noticed a bookmark sticking out from the top of the book. She fingered the edge of the pages until she found the marked section and tried to turn to it. Timid's squeaks of objection stopped her, but when she looked at her for an explanation, Timid turned away again shyly. Raven returned her attention to the book and turned to the marked page. Another scene started to play. This one was later on in the day, with Beast Boy running towards where Raven sat on the beach. He was dripping wet from playing in the water, and he was dressed in nothing but a pair of black swim trunks. He plopped down beside Raven, spraying her with water inadvertently. As expected, she complained at the unwelcome shower.

_"Come on Ray! You can't just sit here in the shade. Go get a swimsuit and come play!"_

The "real" Raven could feel the hesitation of the Raven in the memory. She wanted to go play, but the usual limitations kept her from going. She didn't have the luxury of playing and having fun. And she'd never been a 'sun' person anyway.

_"No thanks,"_ she drolled.

_"Please?"_ he asked again. He tilted his head slightly, allowing his hair to fall into a rugged style naturally. Raven felt her self's heart skip a beat. She was a girl without emotions, but she was still a girl. Her breath could be taken away by the most accidental and inane things.

The memory Raven licked her lips unconsciously as she risked thinking of what fun she could have with her friends. The sheer joy she could feel by doing something as simple as playing in the water boggled her mind, because of the mystery it held for her. The thought of just letting go and being happy – with Beast Boy – was intoxicating.

_"Hey you!"_ someone shouted off-screen. Both Beast Boy and Raven looked towards the water, where Terra was holding a beach ball._ "Hurry up and get over here!"_

Raven looked at Beast Boy out of the corner of her eye. The green mutant shouted back, _"I'll be right there!"_ He stood up and made tracks, kicking up dust as he ran through the sand towards the water. Raven watched him go, and a part of her hated him for leaving so easily. But when Terra called, he didn't hesitate. Because she was actually fun to be with. At that moment on the beach, Raven wished more than ever to be free.

Raven gently closed the book. She drummed her fingers on it and thought about how often Timid must've looked at this book – that scene – and felt the same way. The desire to be free. Raven and every facet of her soul desired nothing more than pure, utter, emotional freedom. But it was their curse to be forever denied it, so long as her father's essence existed inside them.

"...I know he doesn't like me," Timid admitted meekly. "But, I-I... I... like this memory. His smile..." The girl pulled her hood further over her face in an attempt to disappear completely. "His smile makes me feel better. It makes me wish that you... we... could express our feelings to him."

"I've told you before. We can't risk having emotions. It's too easy for 'him' to escape. And if that happened, the world would end."

"I understand. But..." Timid twiddled her fingers. "...I envy you. I wish I could have a body. So that I could meet him and... he could smile at me too."

"He doesn't smile at me," Raven said. "Not anymore."

Timid's eyes widened. "B-but... why?"

"All that time he spent bothering me... he uses that time to be with Terra now." Raven actually felt sadness welling up in her heart. It was such a strange feeling. "I hardly see him at all now."

"Then... he does not like us anymore?"

Raven pushed her chair back and stood up. "I had my chance. But without emotions, there is nothing I can say or do about him and Terra." She paused dramatically, but only to calm her heart and keep her cool.

"... I'm little more than a ghost." She left the alcove as silently as an apparition, both her and Timid sharing the same feeling of regret.

As Pain would have said to them, "There was so much you could have done. But as easily as night changes to day, so does the window of opportunity."

Happy and Smart returned eventually. It felt like an eternity to Raven – several hours in front of the fire with Brave and Gross trying to stave off more food fights. In reality the time could have been less than ten minutes, since time and space always worked differently in a person's mind, especially during meditation. Raven wished she could exert as much control on her emotional sisters as she could on time and space, but alas, every magician had her limits.

Raven pulled yellow-robed Smart aside once the initial greetings were out of the way. Smart wasn't so much an emotion as she was a superego construct. In short, she was the calm, motherly, intelligent portion of Raven's essence responsible for keeping all her emotions in line and maintaining order in the chaotic world that was Raven's mind. Whenever Raven needed advice, she always consulted Smart before her other selves.

Raven felt stupid asking "herself" questions, but she knew it was necessary to treat Smart as someone outside herself. The magic that imprisoned her father Trigon's essence also diffused her spirit into parts. This prevented her emotions from weakening his prison. So Raven had multiple personalities by necessity, and had to treat her facets like flesh and blood people.

"How may I help you today, Other Me?" Smart asked formerly. She adjusted her thin-rimmed glasses and folded her hands on her crossed legs. Overall, she looked like a librarian or a counselor waiting on her patient. Ironically enough, she served both functions in Raven's mind world. She helped keep Raven and her sisters in line, and organized her memories into manageable groups when she had free time.

"I wanted to ask you about... Beast Boy," Raven muttered.

Smart smiled gently. "You mean young Logan, yes? The funny green boy you work with."

"Yeah." Raven shifted nervously in her seat. "Not that I think he's funny."

"Of course," Smart said. "Now, what has Mister Logan done to upset you?"

"I don't get 'upset'," Raven corrected. "I'm just concerned about-"

"'Pigeon' dear, please. Do not act as if I don't know your true nature. If anyone knows your nature, it is I. You do not have to 'act cool' in front of me."

Raven frowned. "Please don't call me that."

"Then be honest with me. Now, what is the matter?"

Raven cast her eyes on the ground as she thought of what she was going to say. There were so many ways to hint at it, but she realized it was pointless to obscure her true worry. She wouldn't improve her situation by pussy-footing around the subject.

"...I like Beast Boy. Whether he's trying to annoy me or trying to entertain me with some stupid joke, he inspires those feelings that I have to keep hidden – joy, humor, silliness..."

"Love?" Raven was about to protest, but none of the words on the tip of her tongue would escape her lips. Smart smiled at this, and even covered her mouth to giggle a bit. "Sorry dear. Please continue."

Raven glowered, and did so. "Ever since Terra joined the team, I've seen less and less of him. I feel like he's grown... bored with me, or has forgotten about me. Even though we work together every day and live under the same roof, he doesn't treat me the same as he used to. He doesn't tease me, or make innuendos, or bug me to go downtown with him. Now, he does all those things with... her."

"And she does the same with him, yes?" Smart guessed. "Express herself with jokes and 'party down' with him and the other Titans?"

Raven nodded slowly, and bit her lower lip sadly. "I'm the only one on the team who isn't emotional. And, I think it's making me fade into the background. It's not just Beast Boy. I think... the whole team is forgetting me."

Smart rubbed her glasses along the bridge of her nose. "It is common for people who don't make that social leap to be 'forgotten' even though they are right under the nose of their peers. You've been open with your friends on occasion, but it's not enough to build a social relationship on. And it goes without saying that a romantic relationship is out of the question."

"Romantic!?" Raven snapped. "I like Beast Boy, but I don't want him like that!"

Smart leaned forward and smiled. "Pigeon. Terra is stealing Beast Boy away from you. That is how you see it, at least. And the reason she can steal him away is because you can't express your feelings to young Logan or anyone else."

Raven tried to come up with a comeback of some kind to refute that outrageous claim of her _loving_ Beast Boy. But once again, her lips failed her. Once again, her heart knew her feelings better than her brain. She sighed, and held her face with her hands. "Yes."

Her double waved her palm gently, summoning an arc of light that formed into an image of Raven fighting Trigon with Beast Boy and Cyborg. Eventually, it showed the white-robed Raven obliterating the massive demon and forcing it to revert into Anger, the shard of her personality belonging to Trigon. The white-robed Raven then reabsorbed Anger and dispersed all the personalities across her mind, returning to normal.

"You've grown stronger since your time in Azarath," Smart noted. "And since the battle with your personal demons, you've grown stronger still. You may have evolved to a point where you can exercise total control of your mind, without fragmenting yourself."

Raven looked up. "Impossible. Trigon is a demon god that can destroy galaxies. Even the fragment of him inside me is too much to handle without the spell."

"You don't give yourself enough credit, dear." Smart waved the images away. "We've noticed our own powers getting stronger, limited as they are. In turn, that must mean your power has reached a new plateau. Like all demon hybrids, your strength increases daily. But in your case, your good nature is growing stronger too. I think we have your friends to thank for that."

Raven wondered if, perhaps, Smart was right. All the time she'd spent with the Teen Titans had improved her combat abilities naturally. But did their good nature grow on her as well? She helped create the Titans in order to find a way to get rid of her father and his curse. Had she finally found the answer she'd been seeking in her friends? In Beast Boy?

Smart leaned forward and put a reassuring hand on Raven's head, like a parent consoling her child. "Believe me, dear. You have earned the right to a happy existence. It is time we partake of that happiness waiting for you. But, we must tread cautiously. So I propose you start slowly."

"Slowly?" Raven echoed. "What do you mean?"

"If you allow parts of yourself to assume control of your body, there should be little risk of Anger breaking free. And even if there is, you can simply retake control and exert your normal influence."

Raven's eyes widened. "You're suggesting I let Happy, Brave, and the others take turns using my body? That's insane!" The sheer magnitude of the things that could go wrong just boggled the mind. And what would the others think if they saw her prancing around like Starfire or picking fights with the boys?

Raven realized immediately what they would think. They'd probably think it was awesome, or miraculous. Smart understood that already. She was suggesting this course of action because it would get the others to pay attention to her again.

"If all goes well, you can try uniting your personae again and manifesting as one complete person. Imagine your friends' surprise when you start laughing and crying and playing like a normal girl." Smart smiled knowingly. "And imagine what young Logan would think of you then."

Raven imagined – perhaps too vividly – what it would be like to be a "real" girl with Beast Boy. She remembered the dream, where they were a couple. He was her 'Tiger'. She hated to admit it before, but a part of her wanted that dream to be reality. And after this conversation, that part of her was growing bigger.

"What do you say, Pigeon?" Smart asked. "Do you think it's worth a try?"

Raven smirked back. "...Yeah. It's worth a try. But who's going to go first?"

"Draw straws. It's the only fair way to do it."

"Good idea." Raven jumped up to go break the news. Quickly she turned and ran over to hug Smart. She didn't hug people in real life, but here she didn't have to worry about hiding her feelings as much. And such news deserved a hug. "Thank you."

"Don't thank me. Thank you." Raven nodded happily and ran out of the room to find the others. Smart watched her leave with a satisfied grin.

_Follow her._

Smart stood up, the smile on her face not leaving for an instant, and followed her happy counterpart out of the room. Soon, she and the other spirits would get a chance to see the real world. And if all went well, they'd all be reunited and become one real person again. The thought of such a joyous occasion was staggering.

She just hoped that everything would be okay.

_Everything will be okay. I promise._

"Are you _serious_!?" Happy shouted, like a valley girl hearing about a clearance sale. "This is GREAT!" She started to dance around with unbridled joy, her pink cape swinging around like the ribbons used in some baton dances. Happy grabbed Brave and swung her around in an impromptu dance routine. Brave shook the girl off and chided her for acting like an idiot. Happy eventually let go and simply bounced up and down beside Timid, who shied away before she could be forced to dance.

"So who gets to go first?" Gross asked. "We can rassle for it or have a belching contest!" Gross worked up a nice one and let it rip with resounding force, literally shaking the room with its intensity. Smart plugged her nose delicately, while the others showed their disgust in more verbal ways.

Raven sweatdropped. "The five of you will draw straws. Whoever gets the short straw will go with me through the gate and share the body for... a day, I guess."

"A day! That's it?" Brave muttered. "Stingy."

"This is just an experiment," Smart said in her defense. "We must tread cautiously until we are sure that we are indeed strong enough to exert our influence without giving Father the opening he needs to escape."

"What about Pain and Hate?" Gross asked. "Don't they get to draw for it?"

Raven shook her head. "Not yet. I'd rather keep them out of my head for now."

Gross frowned and muttered to herself, "Discrimination by emotion ain't fair."

"Now, let's draw." She put her hand inside her robe and pulled out four straws, tightly clenched in her hand. She held the straws out to the crowd. "Now everyone pick one. And don't think you can read my mind to find the right straw, because I don't know which straw is the shortest either."

"Snot," Gross pouted. "There goes _my_ plan." She grabbed a random straw and examined it with a frown. Timid, Happy, and Smart drew straws in turn, and each looked at their choice carefully. Soon, it became clear who would get the chance to enter the real world with Raven first.

"Looks like it's you."

--

"Raven's Sisters"

Raven --- Purple Robe --- "Blank" emotional state (for the most part).

_"Positive" Spirits_  
Brave --- Green Robe --- Aggressive, competitive, confident.  
Happy --- Pink Robe --- Joyful, optimistic, humorous.  
Smart --- Yellow Robe --- _Superego_ aspect. Moral, very orderly.  
Timid --- Gray Robe --- Submissive, shy, self-conscious.

_"Negative" Spirits_  
Anger --- Red Robe --- Trigon's fragmented life essence. Evil.  
Gross --- Orange Robe --- Messy, disorganized, cowardly.  
Hate --- Blue Robe --- Self-centered, full of contempt.  
Pain --- Brown Robe --- Remorse, depressed, almost suicidal.


	2. One Tunnel

"I'm HO~ME!" Terra yelled as she walked through the door leading into the den. "And I bring gifts!" As usual, she was decked out in her superhero threads, composed of skin-tight yellow shorts and a black, long-sleeved top. She also wore a pair of goggles that dangled around her skinny neck and a pair of gloves that covered her equally skinny hands. She was carrying a few shopping bags as well, but those were quickly tossed onto the couch as she collapsed on the couch between Robin and Cyborg, who were busily going at it in their Gamestation game, "Super Fighter Budokai".

Starfire looked up from her magazine excitedly. "Hello, Terra! We are glad you have returned!"

"Hey, short stuff, what's happenin'?" Cyborg greeted, just before powering up his warrior and charging for an attack. Robin dodged easily and kicked Cyborg from behind, sending his combatant flying across the arena to the edge of the environment.

"I never imagined I'd have this much fun shopping," Terra said as she dug through her bags of new clothes. "I've been so used to living life in the wild that I'd forgotten what it's like to have money to spend."

"Yeah. Our allowance sure comes in handy." The allowance came from S.T.A.R. Labs, the sponsors of the Teen Titan's tower and the funder of their superhero team. It was the Lab's way of paying them back for all their good deeds, so it was almost like a superhero salary. Of course, most of the Titans spent the money on unhealthy junk food, music, and magazines.

"I bought some stuff after visiting my 'friend'." Terra pulled out a CD set that was bundled up in a collector's case. She dangled it in Cyborg's view so he could see while he played. "This is for you!"

"The Boys II Men collection!" he exclaimed. He dropped his controller in his excitement, forcing Robin to pause the game in mid-charge. "No way! I heard they were out of this!"

"You'd be surprised what those guys down at the music store will pull out of stock for a pretty girl," Terra said evilly. She and Cyborg shared an evil laugh. Terra then pulled out another gift from a random bag and tossed it to Robin, who caught it deftly. "This is yours."

Robin cocked an eyebrow. "A Batman plushie?"

"Pull the string!" she ordered. 

Robin found a string on the back of the doll and pulled it as ordered. A squeeky, childish voice emanated from the doll along with some cheesy superhero music. _"Come, Boy Wonder! To the Batmobile!"_

Robin cracked a smile. "...Right. I can only imagine what the old man would say if he saw this." Starfire giggled at his reaction.

"I knew you'd think it's funny." Terra opened another bag and presented a boxed gift to Starfire. "Here you go!"

Starfire literally squeeled with delight. "A mustard cake!" She was about to glomp the food product until Robin caught her in the nick of time. "Where did you find such a delectable item!?"

"Had it specially made. When I told the chef it was for you, they went nuts and decided to make a new cake mix just for mustard icing. I think you might start a new fad!"

"Oh, I cannot wait to try this super-sized pastry! Robin, try it with me!"

Robin balked. "I uh..." Before he could protest, Starfire flew over the couch and dragged the hapless hero by his cape into the kitchen. Terra laughed and wished Robin the best of luck.

"Where's Beast Boy and ol' Grumpy?" Terra asked as she gathered up the last two bags.

"Raven's meditating, I think," Cyborg said as he excitedly perused the CD's in his new collection. "I dunno where B.B went."

Terra shrugged casually. "He's probably loafing around in his room." She smiled mischievously. "But since I might get held up there, I'd better give Raven her present first. Heh heh."

"Good luck giving Raven a gift. Nothin' against Ray-ray, but she takes a long time to warm up to new people."

"Yeah... I don't think she likes me either. But the whole point of the gift is to get on her good side. Maybe after this, she'll stop snapping at me during training."

"I wouldn't count on it, but it's worth a shot." Cyborg smiled. "Good luck."

"Thanks!" Terra leapt over the couch with her two remaining bags and left Cyborg to squeel over his new music. Terra raced through the steel hallways, dodging around corners and hopping up stairs as she made her way to the roof. She reached the door to the rooftop and extended her hand towards the door, but stopped just short of grabbing the handle. She pulled her hand back and nervously clutched her heart.

She reached into the bag and pulled out a fresh, crisp hardcover book from one of the local book stores. This one was entitled "The Love Song of Night and Day" - one of those big poems written back when poetry was something every artist did, not just the coffee house crowd that Raven hung out with.

Terra opened the cover and read the inscription inside, as she had many times before to make sure it sounded right. _"Don't let a little competition come between us." -Lil' T_

Terra frowned to herself and put the book back in its bag. She hoped – no, she prayed – that this would cement some sort of friendship between them. The last thing Terra wanted was for another person to hate her for a natural force. Terra could control a force of nature, but she couldn't control people's hearts. All she could do was be herself, and hope for the best, just like any girl. She just hoped that Raven would understand that, and not try to label her as some little witch who stole men away from other girls.

The spry little hero put her smile back on, and pulled the door open. She walked out of the hall with her eyes closed in anticipation of the bright sun. Blindly, she bumped into something tall but soft like a pillow. She opened her eyes, and saw Raven right in front of the door she just went through. Terra's face was firmly planted in Raven's ample chest. 

"Gak!" Terra quickly jumped back and bowed repeatedly. "I'm sorry Raven!" Knowing Raven, something as little as that could send her off the edge and plummet her into self-consciousness, preventing her from being in any kind of good mood whatsoever. What a way to start the day!

"Really, it was an accident," Terra said quickly, her eyes on the ground. "Don't go all Maleficent on me. I need to talk to you about-"

Terra looked up when she noticed that Raven wasn't growling or snarling at her, or trying to phase through her like some wraith or something. To her surprise, Raven was... laughing. Loudly. She was practically rolling on the floor.

"..._This_ is new." So far as she knew, Raven never smiled unless it was a gentle smirk during a quiet moment between friends. She'd never heard of Raven smiling at a joke, let alone laughing her butt off over bumping into someone.

"Ha ha ha ha! Now that's what I call using knockers to open the door! Ha ha ha ha!!" Raven leaned against the side of the door to steady herself as she tried not to bust her gut from laughing to hard. Raven managed to calm herself down and regain her breathing ability. A few additional giggles escaped her lips before she managed to quit entirely.

Terra glowered intently. "Okay. Who are you, and what'd you do with the real Raven?"

Raven grinned. "Hey, no worries shortcake. This is the real me! I guess you could say I'm coming out of the closet."

"I'll say," Terra gawked. "I'd believe you were made of wood before believing you could laugh. It's scary." Terra again stared at the girl suspiciously. "Is this some kind of joke? Did Cyborg put you up to this?"

Raven laughed again and patted the girl on the back. "Take it easy, sister. Just accept it. You don't know Jack, or Jill, about me." The mystic tittered at her own pun and bounced down the stairs into the dark halls, twirling like a ballerina as she did so. Terra watched in stunned awe as she disappeared.

"Raven... what's happened to you?." Terra closed the roof door behind her and followed, her bags of gifts still dangling in her grasp.

~~

The other Titans watched, wide-eyed and speechless, as Raven disregarded every stereotype they'd made for her up until that point. The girl danced around the room, ogled the various items situated throughout the room, gazed in awe at the massive theater system in the den, and basically bounced from corner-to-corner in an instantaneous tour of the area. It was as if she were a child seeing it all for the first time, and neither of those factors made any sense.

"Any guesses, detective?" Cyborg managed to say.

Robin's jaw was practically touching the ground. "I, have NO idea, what's wrong with her. It's like she's a completely different person."

Cyborg hmmed thoughtfully, then disregarded the thought he had. "Nah... couldn't be."

"Raven, is something wrong?" Starfire asked unsurely. "You are acting 'freaky'."

Raven pirouetted across the room and landed in front of Starfire, making the alien girl draw back as if a hyena was standing in front of her. "Star, I've never realized how beautiful your hair is until now! Oh, I really should grow my hair out and try that style out myself. What do you think?"

Starfire sweatdropped and tried to smile. "Y-yes, perhaps. Heh heh... heh." The alien promptly zipped away from the mystic and hid behind Robin's cape. Robin and Cyborg were still baffled as to what to make of Raven's behavior. Raven laughed at the faces they made, then resumed her joyous dance routine, as if in celebration of being free from some unknown prison.

Terra walked into the room, bags in hand, and her face still curled in shock from what happened on the roof. She joined the other Titans in staring at their wayward ally. 

Cyborg looked down at her. "That must've been one heck of a gift."

"Wasn't me," she replied. "I found her like this. Must've been a _good_ meditation."

"The meditation is supposed to calm her down," Robin noted. "This is the exact opposite; it's what she's always been afraid of. Something must have gone wrong."

Raven twirled to a halt and curtsied to the group. "Nothing's wrong. I've just outgrown that old limitation. Thanks to you guys!" Raven telekinetically grabbed the gathering of heroes and clutched them all in a big group hug, scaring them all with her incredible joyousness. They trembled in their grip as if the Joker himself had grabbed them.

"You've... outgrown your limitation?" Robin echoed. "You mean, you found the answer you've been looking for?"

Raven poked the boy's nose. "On the nosey! I've grown strong enough to have my cake and eat it too! Thanks to you guys, I can start experiencing all those emotions I keep bottled up inside. But of course, I have to start slow. So..."

Cyborg nodded in understanding. "So, you're 'Happy' then, right?"

"Right!"

"It's obvious she's happy," Terra griped as she pried herself from the group hug. "But what's all this about finding an answer? Outgrowing her limitation?"

Raven dropped the Titans still in her bear hug and bounced over to Terra like a toon out of an animated show. "I could explain it to you, but that would be boring. I'm in the mood for fun and games!" Raven smiled like a goblin with an evil idea. "And speaking of which, where's that cute little Beast Boy?" The mystic disappeared into the floor like a shadow, leaving the room deathly silent for a moment. Soon, they heard Beast Boy screaming in surprise from down the hall.

"You buy all that?" Cyborg whispered to Robin as the girls went to pursue Raven.

"No reason not to. It's been Raven's goal all along. I'm just glad she finely reached it." Robin smiled. "But we may have more problems on our hands than if this were some villain's work."

"Why's that?"

"You know what they say about people who've bottled up their emotions for too long. When they finally learn to express those emotions, they explode like a volcano."

Cyborg gulped. "That does sound bad. 'Happy' is bad enough. I can only imagine what it'll be like dealing with her other emotions all at once."

"Like she said, we have to take it slow. For her sake."

Beast Boy stormed out of the hall, wearing nothing but a towel and covered in shampoo suds. He left a trail of water behind him as he walked. His face was bright red. Terra and Starfire were escorting Raven back to the den. They too were blushing after having dived into the room to "save" Beast Boy from Raven's surprise. Raven, of course, thought it was hilarious and was yuking it up.

Beast Boy huffed one last time, and re-tightened his towel. "Okay. WHAT, is going on here!"

~~

It didn't take long to explain the situation to Beast Boy. Eventually, all the Titans understood that Raven had multiple personalities because of the spell that kept her father trapped in the astral plane. They understood that Raven couldn't show her emotions without putting the world at risk. And they understood that now, Raven thought she'd bypassed that limitation and was "experimenting" by letting parts of her personality join her in the conscious world. That was why "Happy" Raven was acting like she was seeing things for the first time. Up until now, she'd seen only fragments of these things in Raven's dreams and afterthoughts.

"... And she probably attacked you in the shower because she thought it was funny," Cyborg said, trying hard not to laugh. "Sorry man." Robin and the girls were trying equally hard not to show their amusement. Beast Boy, of course, was not amused and was burning with embarassment.

"I don't think this is funny," he muttered, his arms crossed defensively.

"They don't call you 'Beast Boy' for nothing," Terra said. She and Starfire giggled amongst themselves, while Beast Boy's red face grew redder still. His head looked like a giant apple with facial features at this point. Even though it was a compliment in a way, it was still embarassing to be seen naked by your roommates.

"So what do we do?" Beast Boy said, trying to change the subject. "So far as I can tell, Raven's gone insane and she expects us to let her go downtown to have fun. I don't think we should let her go!"

"Why not?" Cyborg snapped. "She's been waiting her whole life for this day! She wants to experience these emotions to their fullest!"

"Dude, she's a menace. I mean, she _invaded_ my room! Who knows what she'd do if we let her go downtown alone."

"We won't send her out alone," Robin said. "You're right about her being underdeveloped. She's like a child when it comes to these emotions. We have to send someone to watch over her and make sure she doesn't get into trouble."

Starfire beamed brightly as she had a thought. "Perhaps Beast Boy should be the one to go with her! After all, I believe that Raven would love to-"

"No way!" Terra interrupted. "Beast Boy can't be anywhere alone with that girl. If anyone's going downtown with her, I say it's Robin!"

Starfire remembered what Raven just did to Beast Boy, and replaced Beast Boy with Robin in her mental picture. Her face turned red as she thought of how dangerous that could be. "No he will not! Robin will stay here with me while Raven is exploring!"

Robin rubbed his chin thoughtfully. "I think I should-"

"No you should not!" Starfire flew over and covered the teen's mouth. "You will stay here with me, away from the crazy Raven."

Cyborg sweatdropped when he realized the girls weren't going to let "their" guys go anywhere near Raven while she was in this condition. He didn't blame them, quite frankly. He doubted the Happy Raven would pull anything dirty like they were thinking. But she would certainly be more open with her feelings to any guy she was with, now that she was bouncy and giggly.

"I guess that means I'm going with her?" Cyborg muttered. He was the odd man out when it came to the budding relationships. Typical.

"Good idea, Cyborg!" Starfire said cheerfully. Robin nodded, his mouth still painfully clamped by Starfire's hand.

"Thanks a lot, tin-head." Terra added with a smile. Beast Boy, however, was quiet on the matter. His mind seemed to be dwelling on Raven and her new behavior. His cheeks were still pink from the memory of being so exposed in front of her. She really was a whole different person now. The only problem was that Beast Boy wasn't sure if that was a good thing or not.

"Then it is settled," Starfire said. "Cyborg will take Raven out for the day to show her the sights and teach her what it means to be happy like a normal girl!"

Beast Boy frowned. He didn't want Raven to be a normal girl; he never did. He looked up at Terra, who smiled at him as she always did. He smiled back, and tried to forget his worries. They were probably pointless concerns anyway. This was just a phase. Raven would be back to her old self in no time, and everything would be hunky-dory.

... Hopefully.

~~

Raven bobbed her head to the pop music jamming on Cyborg's radio (to his regret). She danced in the passenger seat of the T-Car, her eyes closed as she swayed to the catchy music of the latest female pop icon. Cyborg drove with a hand on the wheel and his left arm resting in the window space on his side. The pop song reached its end, and Raven finished her little dance at the same time. The radio announcer came on to discuss the news at the top of the hour, which was Raven's cue to find some other conversation.

"Why aren't the others coming with us?" Raven asked. "I was looking forward to B.B and me spending time together too."

"They've got things to do at the tower. So for now it's just you and me." Cyborg stopped as a red light halted traffic. "Any place you want to go, we'll go, so long as you behave yourself."

"Oh, you know me!" Raven teased, laughing.

"I thought I did," he muttered.

"What?"

"Nothing." Cyborg followed the line of cars as the traffic started moving again, then turned into the right lane in anticipation of a turn-off for the local fairgrounds. He remembered one being advertised on TV the other day – some fair celebrating the new season and supporting some medical foundation. It sounded like a good place to get Raven started on her first day as a "happy" girl.

Meanwhile, up above the city, two heroes were scaling the rooftops and trying to keep up with Cyborg's car without being seen. Starfire flew casually threw the air as she always did, making sure to fly slow enough for Robin to keep up with her through roof-hopping. They stopped on the perch of a theater building overlooking the fairgrounds and watching Cyborg turn into the parking area far below.

"So this is where they're going to go," Robin noted. "Good idea. Fairs always get kids riled up, and Raven should be no different."

"Why are we spying on Cyborg and Raven?" Starfire asked. "Are they an 'item'?"

Robin tried not to laugh. "No. Cy' and I are just worried that something else is going on behind Raven's sudden emotional freedom. I told him I'd keep an eye from above while he watched over Raven below."

"Then... is it necessary for me to be watching as well?" Starfire asked.

"Not really. Why?" Before he could get an answer, Starfire zoomed into the fairgrounds and made a beeline for the ticket booth. Robin smirked in amusement, then drew his birdline to swing to a better vantage point within the fair.

Down below, Cyborg and Raven were in line, waiting to get tickets for the rides. Cyborg regretfully handed over a portion of his allowance to buy some of the overpriced tickets, which he probably wouldn't get to use anyway since this was technically Raven's day. This was exactly why Cyborg didn't bother trying to date San Francisco girls. They were way too costly for not much enjoyment, compared to friends or cars.

Behind them, two teens waited in line, both of them wearing black outfits and shades to obscure their features. One of them was still obviously green, which neutralized the purpose of disguising himself, but it was still a good look for him nonetheless. By the time they reached the ticket booth and got one ticket each, Cyborg and Raven were already lost inside the crowd.

Terra slid her shades down her nose and peeked at her compatriot. "Okay, time to drop your good looks and sniff out our quarry."

"'Least we both agree that these are good looks," he teased back. Beast Boy shifted shape into a green dog, his clothes and shades mysteriously disappearing as a result of the transformation. He sniffed the ground intently and followed the trail of oil and incense that matched his friends' scents. Terra followed behind him, her eyes scanning the crowd for signs of either Titan.

"What are we looking for?" Starfire whispered over Terra's shoulder.

"We're looking for- GAH!!" Terra jumped out of her socks and panted as her heart beat uncontrollably. She hissed back, "Star! Don't sneak up on us!"

"Sorry," she whispered sheepishly. "We are looking for Raven and Cyborg, yes?"

Beast Boy shifted back into man form, his black outfit returning. "They aren't 'Raven and Cyborg'. You make it sound like they're a couple. This is _not_ a date." He reverted back to dog form and resumed sniffing the ground for a scent.

Terra scowled. "What do you care? It's not like you like Raven anyway."

The dog looked up, as if thinking of what to say, then resumed sniffing the ground and walking ahead. Starfire and Terra followed.

_He didn't deny it,_ Terra thought regretfully. She knew that Beast Boy had stronger feelings than friendship when it came to Raven. But she thought that was old news – just something that Raven clung to and harbored in her heart secretly. Was Beast Boy still harboring some feelings too? If so... that message she put in Raven's gift about competition was more dangerous than she originally thought.

Beast Boy barked and bobbed his head, indicating the others should hurry up. The green bloodhound raced across the crowded fairgrounds, ducking behind haunted houses and performance tents. The girls followed quickly, ducking past pedestrians and performers alike, until finally they caught up with the dog outside of a "Tunnel of Love" ride.

"They went into the Tunnel of Love together!?" Terra gawked. "No way! Big Cy' and Grumpy Girl!?"

"I thought they were not an 'item'?" Starfire asked, confused.

Beast Boy reverted to human form and stormed into the ride, slapping his one and only ticket onto the counter. "There's just no way! Cy's pulling a sick joke, and I'm going to punish him for it!" Beast Boy disappeared into one of the duck-shaped carts that road into the Tunnel's dark interior.

"Hey, wait up!" Terra whined. She slapped her ticket on the counter, paying for her and Starfire (since the ride was intended for two people), and they hopped into the next duck to sweep by. The girls rode into the tunnel after Beast Boy and their quarry, and were instantly assaulted by disgustingly romantic music and bright, heart-shaped lamps lighting up the black tunnel.

Beast Boy rode impatiently in the duck, trying his best to see up ahead into the duck in front of him. The tunnel's ambience prevented his normal human vision from working, so he changed into a racoon and used its natural nightvision to see farther into the tunnel. The duck ahead of him had an actual couple in it, so he tried to look farther ahead still. Unfortunately, the angle of the tunnel and its turns prevented him from seeing the duck after the next one.

"Fine. I'll just swim up there and catch 'em red-handed!" Beast Boy growled. He changed into a water moccasin and slithered his way into the shallow water, making his way down the tunnel as silently as possible. He slithered past the duck in front of him and snuck upon the duck after that, changing shape into a human so that he could sneak up and listen at the same time. He heard feminine giggling that had Raven's peculiar tone to it. And from the sound of the giggling, she was really excited by something.

_Gotcha_.Beast Boy jumped into the duck and grabbed Raven's companion by the throat. "I gotcha you jerk! Get your meat hooks off of her!" He reared back and balled up his fist, ready to knock the teeth out of his so-called friend, taking advantage of Raven in her confused state.

Just then, the light of another heart-shaped lamp hit the cart. Beast Boy realized he was holding a giant stuffed bear from one of the prize booths.

Raven giggled from the seat nearby. "Gotcha, B.B." She called on her magic powers and dragged Beast Boy into the seat next to her, and tied him up with an ungodly number of safety belts. The giant teddy bear disappeared in a flash of darkness, again thanks to Raven's magic.

Beast Boy struggled against the belts as Raven laughed at her own genius. "What the... where's Cyborg!?"

"He was nice enough to go keep Star and Lil' T company while we have a little 'talk'." Raven scooted closer to her captive comrade. 

"How did you know we were following you?" Beast Boy shied away nervously, but there wasn't much he could do while ensnared by so many bindings. He was at Raven's mercy, and at the moment he wasn't sure that was a good thing.

"Just because I'm happier today doesn't mean I've completely lost my senses." 

"Then... you haven't gone insane?"

"I can calm down and act a little more 'normal' if I try. I'd just rather not... considering this is my first time feeling so free." Raven leaned against Beast Boy's side and rested her head on his shoulder gently. The ride continued into the next arc of the tunnel, themed like a hidden jungle paradise under a false night sky.

"Wh-what'd you want to talk about, exactly?" he asked nervously.

"I just wanted you to know that... I've always wanted to do this with you."

Beast Boy blinked into the darkness. "_You_ wanted to ride the Tunnel of Love? With _me_?" Beast Boy looked down, feeling his cheek rub against Raven's silky hair as he did. "But... that doesn't sound like you at all."

"What do I 'sound like' then?" Raven said. "A stick in the mud?"

"That's not what I meant."

"I know." She chuckled lightly. "I just wish I could've come out earlier, before you grew bored of me. We could've had so much fun together at fairs like this. And I wouldn't have to steal you away like this."

Beast Boy frowned. Was that what the "real" Raven thought too? How different were the thoughts of this Raven and the Raven he saw everyday?

"I'm not 'bored' with you," he said, amazed at such a ridiculous thought coming from Raven. "How can I get 'bored' with somebody? That's something you say about a game, not a person."

"But... you never talk to me anymore."

"Because you never _want_ me to talk to you!" Beast Boy whined. "Anytime I tried, you'd act like I was invading your territory or bothering you or something. So I stopped messing with you all the time."

"Then, you're not bored with me?"

Beast Boy shook his head vehemently. "Of course not! I feel the same about you as I always have!"

Raven wondered how that compared to his feelings for Terra. At the moment, she didn't care either way. Her heart filled with happiness just from knowing that he still thought about her, and that his lack of communication was because he thought that was what she wanted. He cared about her feelings.

"You don't know how happy that makes me feel," Raven sighed. She turned her head and pecked him on the cheek, before resuming her cuddling. 

Beast Boy tried to think of a witty comeback, but all he could do was smile. His cheek, still touching Raven's, suddenly felt hotter than normal from somebody blushing. Whether it was him or Raven, he couldn't tell. Either way, it felt good to be so close to her.

"What do you think you're doing!?" shouted a voice from the darkness. Beast Boy nearly jumped out of his skin. Luckily, the safety belts were still restraining him.

"Terra?"

The blond flicked a match to light the darkness, revealing herself and Starfire on the head of the duck. Cyborg was on Starfire's shoulder, bound and gagged by what appeared to be a giant ribbon from the tunnel decor. He squirmed unsuccessfully, trying to break free of Starfire's grip with little success.

"Oh, hiya girls," Raven said from the comfort of Beast Boy's shoulder. "What kept ya?"

"You think this is _so_ funny, don't you," Terra said, her eyes shining in the darkness thanks to the match hovering next to her face.

Raven giggled. "Definitely. Thanks for bringing B.B for me. We had a great time."

Terra burned with jealous fury. She growled back through clenched teeth. "No problem. Anything for a 'friend'."

Beast Boy struggled against his bonds. "Uh, guys? A little help here?" Starfire smiled brightly and used her starbolts to cut the seatbelts. Beast Boy leapt from the duck as it rolled towards the end of the ride. He glanced at Terra apologetically, then left the tunnel with Starfire and the still-captured Cyborg. The ride operator stared wide-eyed at the teenage heroes as they left.

Raven smirked at Terra. Her eyes glinted in the darkness. "Nothing wrong with a little 'competition', right?"

** _"Don't let a little competition come between us." -Lil' T **_

Terra glared angrily. "How did you know about that?"

The mystic skipped from the duck happily. "Magic." She turned to face Terra again and folded her hands behind her back. "I really appreciate the gift, you know. I really don't know what to say."

Terra hopped off the duck and stared coldly into Raven's eyes. "As far as I'm concerned, you're not the real Raven. And I'm not the only one that thinks so. I'm going to make sure you don't hurt Beast Boy or my friends."

Raven tried to make a cheerful reply. But even Happy was hurt by Terra's comment. She couldn't even smile. _She's... afraid of us._

"Stay away from Beast Boy," Terra ordered. "If you do anything to hurt him, I'll..."

Raven's smile returned. "I'd never hurt him. We're best friends!"

Terra glared fiercely, but answered calmly. "The sooner this emotion kick of yours ends, the better." Terra disappeared into the crowd outside.

Happy subconsciously spoke to her sister. "_Did that go well or no? I'm not good at sarcasm."_

_"...Don't worry about it. You did fine. Terra has a big mouth."_

_"She seems nice to me. She cares about her friends as much as I care about my sisters."_

Raven coaxed her body into moving. _"Whatever. Let's get out of here before security makes a big deal out of it."_

"But I'm not done hanging out at the fair yet!"

Raven yawned deeply as she pulled her hood over her head. _"We're done. Being cheerful is exhausting."_

"I guess you're right," Happy said, bouncy as ever. "Maybe I can convince the others into playing a game of Super Fighter Budokai when we get back!"

Raven groaned. This was going to be a lo~ng day.

~~

Deep in the recesses of Raven's mind world, buried underneath the castle where her personalities gathered, there existed a dungeon. Although the dungeon was built for many prisoners, there was only one prison cell in use. Inside this cell, a single figure cloaked in red was held prisoner. In addition to the cell itself, the prisoner was trapped inside a steel jacket of chains and locks, all of which linked to the ground to heavy cinder blocks built into the floor itself. It would take a psychic force of incredible strength to break through those chains and free the prisoner inside.

But Anger didn't have to be free to exert her influence on her host.

"Raven has taken the bait," Anger said in retrospect. "She trusts the word of her maternal sister so much, that she is willing to throw away years of warnings for this chance." Anger chuckled, the malevolent tone of the laugh able to chill even the most hardened warriors to the bone.

"So long as I control the golden-robed persona, I can manipulate the events leading up to my freedom." 

Anger smirked to herself. "And my first act of vengeance, will be to torture this boy so close to Raven's heart. And I know just the way to do it..."

The demon's laughter echoed through the cold, lonely halls of the dungeon. The only essence to hear the laughter was the ever-silent, ever-listless spirit known as Pain. Raven's darker self ignored the laughter, for it didn't scare her anymore. To her, death was the only future that would satisfy her need for freedom. And given time, Anger would bring about that death she so desired.

It was just a matter of time.


	3. Twenty Things That Make You Blush

[**A/N:** Sorry for the long period of silence. I had a 13-day shift due to the other night shift person quitting at my small place of business (i.e., a gas station). So I was stuck doing a lot of work without much mental energy in the meantime. That schedule has ended so I should be doing my regular update speeds. Now that I'm at full mental strength, it's time to write! FULL POW~AA! **~~ Seth-kun**]

~~

_ Blue sky to forever,   
The green grass blows in the wind, dancing.   
It would be a much better sight with you, with me.   
If you hadn't met me, I'd be fine on my own, baby.   
I never felt so lonely, then you came along.   
  
So now what should I do? I'm strung out, addicted to you.   
My body it aches, now that you're gone.   
My supply fell through.   
  
You gladly gave me everything you had and more.   
You craved my happiness.   
When you make me feel joy it made you smile,   
But now I feel your stress.   
Love was never meant to be such a crazy affair, no   
And who has time for tears.   
Never thought I'd sit around and cry for your love,   
'till now.   
_

  
~~ 

Inside the quiet, dismal halls of Raven's castle, in the equally dismal wasteland known as Raven's mind, a siren of joy rang from the darkness. "That was the best, day, EVER!!" Happy bounced like a spastic bunny around the dining room, showering the room with her cheerful song of celebration. "Best day ever! Best day ever! Best day ever, YAY!"

"How long is she going to do that?" Brave asked while rubbing the bridge of her nose.

Smart smiled at the display. "I think it's cute. I am glad that the outside world engendered such feeling in her heart."

"So she likes it," Gross said from the couch she'd claimed by sprawling across it like a lounging cat. "Wonderful. When do I get _my_ turn!"

"We shall all have a chance to see the outside world with Raven," Smart said. "We must be patient."

"Screw patience! She's asleep, so we might as well sneak a peek." Gross started to fade from view, like a ghost retreating into the night.

"Y-you can't do that..." Timid whimpered from the floor beside Smart. "If you get in trouble, Raven... might not let us go."

"That won't happen, you wuss," Gross said with a confident smirk. "Because Raven wants this as much as we do. Otherwise, she can't get into little B-Boy's pants."

Smart scowled like a disgusted nun. "That is not what this is about. Raven wants friendship and is insecure in her inability to express emotions. This is not about vulgarity."

"Sez you! I'm in this for a little action. But I have to see if Beast Boy 'measures up' to my standards before I have my fun with him."

Smart winced in disgust. "You're.... revolting."

"What do you expect?" Brave said. "She's a negative spirit."

"Flattery will get you no~where," Gross countered, as she held up her middle finger and made kissing noises. Brave gave no response, simply because she didn't consider Gross worth arguing with. She was petty and got her kicks by pushing other people's buttons.

_I wonder where Hatred and Pain are right now,_ Brave thought. She watched the fire crackle beneath the mantle, while Gross tried to tease Timid some more. _They want to see the world as much as any of us. _Brave shrugged. _Oh well. The fewer negative spirits that Raven has to deal with, the better._

"Shall we decide who will join Raven at the conscious level when she wakes up?" Smart suggested. "We can draw straws right now."

"Really! Hell yeah, let's do it." Gross leapt to the forefront and crouched readily like a toad. "Or better yet, we can Ro-Sham-Bo to see who goes. Let's go, mouse!" Gross started throwing her hand as she counted to three. Timid inexplicably followed along, until Gross threw a 'paper' on the third count. Timid's hand was still balled up, so Gross smacked it. "Paper beats rock! Next!"

"We will be drawing straws," Smart decreed. "It's fair that way, and there's no need to use a different method."

Gross sighed loudly. "Fine. Let's do everything _your_ way then."

Smart held up a balled fist with four straws rising from the top. "Draw. And we shall discover who sees the light of day next."

~~

Terra stared at the ceiling as she lay in her comfortable bed – the bed given to her by the Titans out of good faith. She knew in her heart that she didn't deserve this bed, but she couldn't help but enjoy the wonderful feeling it gave her. It was so soft, so giving, compared to the rocky ground she used to sleep on while running away from her past.

Terra held aloft _The Love Song of Night and Day_ and opened its cover to the first few pages, where the writer Sean Yorick described how he came to create this expanded story-version of Jenny Scott's epic poem. This was supposed to be a present for Raven, but with all the strange goings-ons yesterday she never got a chance to actually give her the book. Raven seemed to 'know' about the book when they fought yesterday, so Terra didn't see a reason to give it to her now. Not that she _wanted_ to give her a present at this point.

"You have it _so_ easy," Terra muttered. "You can be weird and have frightening powers, and you don't have to run away from your friends. Then you get even weirder, and people love you even more." Terra slammed the book shut and tossed it across the room. It slammed against the wall and closed as it hit the ground. "I hate you!"

Terra rolled over and gripped her pillow, angrily mashing her face into it. Why did Raven have it so easy? Why couldn't _she_ have it that easy!? She didn't want to play superhero or fight crime. She wanted to go back home! She wanted her family back! She wanted her heart to just disappear so that she wouldn't feel all these conflicting emotions of hatred and love for the people who took her in, and for the girl she looked up to!

The world rumbled around her with an earthen tremor. Terra's eyes flickered with golden light as her anger got the better of her, but only for a few moments. Terra clutched her pillow and took deep breaths to calm her nerves. She couldn't let this bother her. She had more important things to do than worry about Raven and Beast Boy. She had a mission!

The communicator in the wall beeped across the room by the sliding door. Starfire's voice flowed from the device melodically. _"Terra? You wished for me to call you if Beast Boy and Raven were doing something together, correct?"_

Screw the mission! Important things first!

Terra zipped across the room and leaned close to the speaker. "What're they doing!? Where are they going?"

_"They are eating breakfast with the rest of us. Come join us!"_ Terra promptly faceplanted into the ground.

"That's not what I meant! I meant it they were _alone_ together!"

_"Oh... my apologies then,"_ Starfire said. _"But you should join us. We are having the cold cereal with the Lucky Charms and special prizes inside! It is quite exciting!"_

Terra chuckled. "Alright, I'll be right there." She rushed over to her dresser to pull out a fresh uniform and donned it quickly. She finished by putting on her lucky goggles. Terra took a moment to check herself out in her full body mirror, making sure that she looked good in all the right places.

Terra licked the tip of her finger and touched her butt, making a hissing sound like steam. "Hot!" She then left the room through the sliding door. The room's lights turned off automatically, showcasing yet another feature of the tower.

Terra reached the living room in no time. "Morning everyone!" The kids shouted back a greeting as the final Titan took the remaining empty seat. She watched the other Titans eagerly chomp into their cold breakfast and discuss the morning events in their usual manner. Starfire giddily showed Robin the prize she'd found in one of the cereal boxes. Beast Boy and Cyborg were in a heated discussion of a game between their favorite teams. And Raven was quietly sipping some tea, her eyes downcast. As luck would have it, Terra was seated right next to her. Cyborg was on Raven's opposite side, followed by Beast Boy, Starfire, and Robin.

"Y'hungry, rock n' roller?" Cyborg asked, holding up a half-empty box of Frosted Sugar Fritos.

"No thanks," Terra said. "Pass me a cup though, would ya?" Cyborg reached for the counter top behind him and tossed a plastic cup over his head, which Terra deftly caught before it could go flying across the room. Terra grabbed the milk jug from the center of the table and poured a glass for herself, then leaned back in her chair comfortably. She watched the table buzz with conversation. But mostly she watched Raven and tried to pick out what kind of emotions and mannerisms she would have today, and whether or not they were a threat.

Raven sipped her tea and gently licked her lips as she put the glass down. She glanced up at the table, then reached out to grab a cracker from a little tray set beside the butter and shakers. She bit into it gently and resumed looking down. She didn't say a word, nor did she try to make her presence known in any spectacular way. She was the complete opposite of the Raven from yesterday. She was quiet and unobtrusive as opposed to boisterous and irritating.

Raven glanced up in Terra's direction, and their eyes met for a second. Terra was about to say something, but Raven immediately looked down and started blushing furiously, as if that moment of interaction had been the most intense social interaction she'd ever done. Terra stared blankly at her, mouth agape from her prior attempt to speak.

"Next time we're having a cooked breakfast," Robin decided. "None of this cold cereal junk."

"Oh, but the warm breakfast does not have a prize inside!" Starfire said sadly.

"I'll be sure to put a prize in your waffle," Cyborg said as he reclined. The teen looked down as he felt a gentle tap on his arm. Raven motioned to him, and he leaned down so that his ear was level with her mouth. She whispered something into his ear, and Cyborg sat up straight with an incredulous stare. Raven looked up to him, a look of hope in her eyes. "Well... sure. I can make one for you too if you want."

Raven smiled gently, her cheeks glowing. The rest of the table looked at her, jaws dropped all the way to the floor. She promptly lowered her blushing face and focused on her teacup intently.

_Too weird,_ Terra thought. _She's totally different. She's acting like a shy little girl! Who the hell _is_ she? _Watching this display made Terra realize that Raven really was on the level with this whole emotion experimenting thing – she wasn't possessed. No demonic entity or freaky alien would act like this. But it was still scary to see Raven acting so different. And it was even scarier to see Beast Boy's reaction to it. Terra also realized that if Raven was in 'shy little girl' mode today, she would be easier to manipulate... and intimidate.

"Umm..." Beast Boy said. He was finally able to tear his eyes away from Raven with great effort. "Training is in an hour, right?"

"Yeah," Robin replied, shaking his head to undo his jaw-drop. "I'm going to update the database after that, so my free time is shot."

"I would only be in the way during a data-face update," Starfire said seriously (even though it still amused the others). "So perhaps I will go downtown to the mall of shopping and see a cinema later!"

"That sounds awesome!" Terra agreed.

"I'm gonna work on the Sub and tune up my car," Cyborg said. It was his usual routine, so nobody was surprised. "What about you, B.B?"

"I was going to go out with Star and Terra," Beast Boy snorted, as if it were the obvious course of action.

"Nah-ah!" Terra said, waving a finger and pushing his nose with it. "Not this time, love. This time it's going to be just us girls." Terra reached over and grabbed Raven, who 'meeped' fearfully at the sudden contact. "We girls have a _lot_ to talk about and a lot of stores to crash."

"But I want to go shopping too!" Beast Boy whined. "Especially if you girls are going!"

"It's a Girl's Only party! Let us have some time by ourselves today." Terra leaned on the table and winked. "I promise I'll make it worth your while later on."

Beast Boy frowned. "You think I can be bought that way?"

"Yep."

"... So what." Beast Boy crossed his arms and made a show of pouting. "Well, fine. Go and have your girl-time. See if I care."

Terra grinned and whirled around the table to his side, clutching the green goblin in a hug. "Tha~nk you, B.B." She kissed him on the cheek and looked across the table to make sure Raven was watching. Beast Boy's head spun and spurted steam like a tea kettle. Raven sadly looked at the scene, then returned to staring down at her teacup to avoid eye contact.

Starfire made a thumbs-up sign. "Alright! Starfire and Raven and Terra are going out! We shall goobler like no females have gooblervorked before!" Terra had no idea what the alien said, but she gave a thumbs-up and shouted "Hoo-ah!" in agreement.

"I guess we have a schedule, then," Robin said. "But first we have training to do. Titans, let's go!" With that, every teenager raced for the field outside. Chairs clattered around and utensils rattled on the table as shock waves filled the room from all the running. The noise quickly died down as doors slammed and everyone left. Everyone except Beast Boy (who had no plan) and Raven (who had no volition). 

Beast Boy stood up and started gathering dirty bowls together. "I guess it's my turn to do the dishes. And I guess I'll get to break in that new comedy CD I got yesterday."

Raven slowly looked up. Beast Boy frowned back at the sad young woman, but quickly turned away when he caught himself staring. He rapidly gathered up the bowls and their matching utensils before dumping them in the sink and starting the faucet for a dish-washing session.

"M-maybe I could..." Raven said meekly, her voice barely above a whisper. The rest of her sentence murmured into nothingness.

"Huh?" Beast Boy said, looking over his shoulder. Raven was still seated in her chair, head bowed. She looked so sad, it was painful to watch.

"I could... help," she managed to say, not daring to look up.

Raven never offered to help do the dishes before. Once again, Beast Boy wondered how much of this Raven was the "real" her, and how much of it was just those other "hers" wandering around in her head like ghosts.

"No, that's okay," he replied gently. Raven looked up and saw him smiling softly. It was such a warm expression, that Raven couldn't bring herself to turn away, even though every fiber of her body wanted to shy away again.

"I... don't know if I should go with... them," Raven said, referring to Starfire and Terra's plans for the day.

"Don't worry, you'll have fun," Beast Boy said. "Shopping's a great way to relax. And the girls won't let anything hurt you."

Raven stood up and slowly wandered towards one of the hangar stairs that led to a sky access point. Before leaving, she turned around and watched Beast Boy work on the dishes by himself. She whispered a few words of thanks, then gently closed the door behind her.

Beast Boy smiled to himself. It was the little moments of gentility in life that really made it worth living – even for the action-packed, always exciting life of a superhero. Beast Boy dipped into soapy water and went to work. 

~~

"Woo-HOO!" Terra cheered as she surfed through the sky on a rock lifted from the roof of the Super Mall in the northern part of the city. Starfire followed at matching speed, and the two swirled over and under each other in a spectacular air show as they flew towards the city. It was such a beautiful night that it was hard not to enjoy flying through the air. And after a long day of window shopping, the girls were itching to do _something_ with their money and their time.

Raven followed at the same speed but with none of the aerial acrobatics the others were performing. She watched them jealously and wished that she could express herself so wildly and freely (like her sister Happy could). But she figured that even if she could, she'd prefer a safer venue than that of aerial surfing and tumbling.

"Raven, do not be so glum!" Starfire cheered, tackling the girl in a midair hug and glomping the life out of her. "We shall find another mall to shop the windows!"

"Not now! The sun went down a little bit ago, so it's movie time!" Terra shouted back.

"Joyful news! We shall see a movie then!" Raven remained quiet, but her eyes widened slightly at the prospect.

"Yo Raven! Star!" Terra yelled, her hair flowing in the wind created by her high speed flight. "I'll race you to the broadcast tower. Winner decides what movie we watch!"

"Oh goodie! A race!" Starfire said. She let go of Raven and zoomed ahead to line up with Terra. Raven watched them nervously. She was afraid that something bad would happen even though the girls had raced like this many times before – especially Raven and Terra, since they were competitive in just about everything and not just Beast Boy's affections.

"Ready... steady... GO!" Terra shouted. Her rock plowed through the air at high speed with her mental insistence. Starfire followed with her own natural powers and flew as fast as she could manage within a gravitized atmosphere. Raven reluctantly sped up so that she didn't lose them, but she lacked the drive to win that the other two had. She was quickly outpaced.

Terra and Starfire were neck-in-neck. Starfire gritted her teeth and released a burst of physical energy as a green aura around her body, which propelled her like a rocket through the air even faster than before. Terra smirked and unleashed more of her power. Her eyes shined gold through her goggles and catapulted her across the sky, enabling her to pass the tamaranean girl in the home stretch. Terra screeched to a halt as she shot past the JUMP broadcast tower like a bullet. Starfire generated an inverted aura burst to slam on the brakes (so to speak) and end her movement instantly. She snapped her fingers and said a word in her native language, which probably equated to 'Darn!' Both girls caught their breath and laughed with each other at having such a good race.

Raven eventually caught up with them. Her pace was so slow that she wasn't out of breath at all. In fact, the other two girls had caught their breath by the time Raven hovered beside them.

"So the turtle finally finishes the race," Terra said, smiling at her own pun. "Glad you could join us, 'speedy.'"

"I didn't want to go too fast," Raven said in a subdued manner. "I'm sorry."

"Do not apologize Raven," Starfire answered, cheerful as ever. "There is no fault here."

"But since I won, _I_ get to pick the movie!" Terra cheered. "And the movie's gonna be THAT one!" The girl pointed across the sky towards a giant advertisement in the city, and the other girls looked in that direction. It was a brightly-lit, somewhat cheesy advertisement for "Wicked Scary 2: I Know How Wicked You Were Last Night."

Raven squeaked fearfully and clutched her robe like a blanket. Terra smiled at her reaction.

"I thought that a movie such as 'the Wicked Scary' is appropriate only at home," Starfire recalled. "Would it not be less scary with all those people in the theater with you?"

"In the theater, it'll be pitch black except for the movie itself and everybody will be scared witless. It'll be _just_ like watching it at home... heh heh heh." She watched Raven pull her hood over her head and curl inside her robe. She looked like a bodiless manifestation of Death, albeit a not-so-scary one.

Starfire remembered another little fact. "Oh, but Raven does not like the Wicked Scary. I think we should watch something else. How about the new X-Men movie with Johnny Depp as Gambit!"

"What's the matter Raven?" Terra taunted. "Afraid of some movie? I figured that the 'queen of darkness' here wasn't afraid of anything. Now the truth comes out!"

It was bad enough that the "real" Raven was afraid of scary movies. But with Timid in control of her consciousness, that fear bordered on a phobia. The mere thought of watching a horror movie was giving her the chills and making her shake. Yet a part of Timid's personality gave her a need to be "liked" by everyone around her. She couldn't chicken out of this. If she didn't go to watch this movie with the girls, they would hate her. And she couldn't allow that to happen.

Raven slowly turned around and peeked from her shadowy hood. "I... I guess it's okay."

"Are you sure you will be alright, Raven?" Starfire asked. She remembered vividly what happened the last time Raven's fears went out of control. She turned the entire tower into a nightmare and didn't even know it!

"I-it's okay," she replied shakily.

"Well, good!" Terra said, happy that Raven was playing into her hands so easily. Once they got to the theater, she'd give her the scare of her life and make her look like a total fool. She'd be so embarrassed and ashamed that she wouldn't even be able to show her face to the Titans – let alone Beast Boy.

"The cinema on the south end is the best, so let's head there!" Terra said. She zipped in that direction, and Starfire followed quickly. Raven reluctantly continued flying, although every part of her wanted to fly in the opposite direction.

They landed outside the South District Theater a few minutes later. Terra "parked" her rock in an out-of-the-way section of the lot next to a bunch of inline skaters having fun with a set of handicap access rails. They cheered on the titans and whooped insistently (particularly when Starfire landed). Terra gave them some witty taunts that left them laughing. Raven stayed close to Starfire like a lost child and clung to her arm for moral support. The girls made their way to the long theater line, which prompted a round of applause and cheers from the gathered civilians. The Teen Titans were just like celebrities in that they got a lot of attention no matter where they went, and often got special favors to boot. This was evidenced by them getting to bypass the line entirely and enter the theater with free tickets. And nobody complained about it.

"Free tickets!" Terra cheered as they went into the lobby and bought all their foodstuffs with cartoonish speed and flamboyance. Starfire and Terra grabbed mountains of candy (some about as healthy as a handful of dirt) and paid for it before hefting it onto their shoulders. "Sometimes it pays to be a superhero." Terra started to buckle under the weight of her food stash, then looked at Raven and her empty hands. "A little help here?"

Raven waved a hand, and all the candy started to float thanks to her magical touch. Starfire and Terra, now able to use their shoulders again, were thankful in their own way.

The girls used their tickets and made their way to the twenty-seventh theater – one of six that was showing Wicked Scary 2. It was packed with movie-goers both young and old, all of them anxiously awaiting the start of the film. The Titans snuck into one of the middle rows and plopped down with their snack food in tow. Terra sat in the aisle seat, and Starfire sat two seats into the row. Raven sat in the middle at Terra's command.

"This is going to be _so_ scary!" Terra said hauntingly. Raven shied away and tried to hide inside her robe. The lights in the theater dimmed to nothing, and the screen lit up with the opening previews. "It's starting!" Terra joined the other youngsters in the audience in cheering for the arrival of the film. Raven wondered if coming here was a good idea. Beast Boy said she would have fun with the girls, but she didn't feel like she was having fun.

The movie started with a stereotypical scene of a girl in a shower, unaware of the evil creature stalking her outside. The audience watched with baited breath as the monster slowly went down the hall, entered her bedroom, and approached the bathroom where the innocent victim was blissfully unaware of her fate. Raven watched with great effort, trying her best not to look like a 'chicken'. Starfire's eyes were wide with suspense, while Terra's relaxed look made it seem like she'd seen this a million times before. She seemed more intent on making sure Raven was watching the movie.

When the monster finally struck, Starfire jumped in her seat and screamed like most of the other audience members. Raven actually screamed as well, which her normal self had never done even when she was afraid. She covered her eyes with the edge of her cape and waited for the evil music to end. Terra smirked at Raven's reaction – she was totally weak in this form. Now, for the final phase of her plan. During the scary scene, Terra slipped into the aisle and dashed to the end until she was out of sight. Raven clutched Starfire's arm and watched the movie from her shoulder, so she never noticed that Terra wasn't next to her anymore.

The next scene included some typical horror drama with the characters acting suspiciously and lustily at the same time. One of the characters had a heated argument with another, and it turned out that the angry character could control the evil monster and coax it to kill people. So after the argument, the angry character sent the monster after the person he'd argued with – a jock who was too cool to hang out with geeks like the angry guy. The jock was with his girlfriend having obligatory sex, and the creature stalked towards their room with shots intermixed of the two throwing each other's clothes around. The music built the tension, and once again the audience waited with baited breath to see what would happen. The question wasn't really if they would die or not – that was a given. The question was how gory and viciously they would die, and how many bloodcurdling screams would be made before they finally croaked.

"Close your eyes if you are a-frighted," Starfire suggested to the girl clutching at her arm. Raven continued to watch nonetheless. She didn't want to seem like a scaredy-cat in front of her friends. Only then did she wonder where Terra went – her seat was empty, and she couldn't feel her presence with the audience's fears overwhelming her senses.

"Wh-where is Terra?" she whispered to Starfire. The scene was about to reach its climax. Both girls looked at each other, then at the empty seat. At that exact moment, the 'Wicked Scary' monster popped up _right by their row_, fangs drooling and tentacles flailing wildly as the movie's monster finally struck. Starfire and Raven screamed so loud that the people next to them nearly fainted from shock. Starfire keeled over, while Raven screamed her way into a magic portal of shadows and fled for her life.

The cardboard cut-out of the monster fell to the side as Terra laughed her head off. "Yes! Yes-yes-yes! PER-fect timing!" The annoyed movie-goers nearby told her to be quiet and shushed her, so Terra tried to calm herself with little success. She crawled into her seat and laughed into her gloved hands at her perfectly executed prank.

Starfire popped up from the floor. Her hair was as frizzy as the hair of a victim of an electric socket, and she was covered in old jujubes and popcorn kernels. She glared at Terra and floated into the girl's face. She was decidedly angry, but polite enough to keep her voice down. "That was not funny, Terra!"

"Are you kidding?" Terra whispered back, still stuck in a laughing fit. "It was hi-LAR-ious! I think I made ol' Grumpy wet her pants!"

Starfire poked Terra's chest angrily, making the girl cringe in pain. Starfire's pokes were like rail spikes. "You knew that Raven did not like being scared. You should not have done such a mean thing!" Starfire flew out of the theater, keeping low so as not to get in the way of the people in the upper row. Terra watched her leave, then harrumphed at the alien's back.

"Maybe now she'll listen to me and stop messing with this emotion crap," Terra said. "Beast Boy likes me, and I'm not going to let her 'woe-is-me' routine get in the way of my biggest source of happiness."

Terra frowned at the movie screen, and at the empty chairs beside her. "...Sheesh. I wouldn't have done it if I knew I'd be alone afterwords." More than anything else, being alone made Terra feel sad and regretful. She hadn't counted on this part of the plan.

"...Crap," she muttered. Terra left her seat and ran towards the theater exit and hoped that Starfire hadn't blown up her ride home out of anger.

~~

Raven's teleportation instantly brought her to her bedroom. The normal range of her shadow-hopping was very limited, but Raven's room was so ingrained with her magical essence that she could appear there no matter where in the city she was. Raven plopped onto the bed instantly and dug her way into her bed covers, still in mid-scream from the sudden surprise at the theater. Raven cowered beneath the covers and gasped for breath. Her mind was still buzzing from the sight of the horrible monster right next to her. It reminded her too much of home – of her father and the nightmares he sent to torment her.

Raven was a teenager – an adult in all ways save for experience and age. But after such a frightening experience, there was only one course of action that came to her. Raven started to cry, both in self-pity and in fear. Like a child that just had a vivid nightmare, Raven curled up beneath her covers, wept into her arms, and hoped that the bad monsters (both real and imagined) would stay away from her.

"Somebody help me," she whimpered into the darkness. She was too deathly afraid to look outside of the covers into her cold, dark room. "Somebody please help me." Raven's plea for help sounded pathetic but honest. She wanted somebody to be there – somebody who could just make all the bad things go away. Raven's whispers weren't loud enough to be heard outside, even if someone was actually standing there. She was all alone in her hall of the tower's residential area.

"Somebody... please..." Raven's crying continued unabated. The room seemed to moan with her fear, and she continued to tremble beneath her blanket. Was her mind playing tricks on her? She didn't have the clarity of sense to find out. All she could think about was how scared she was, and how alone she felt.

Suddenly, the door swished open and someone stomped in as if they were running just moments before. "Raven!?"

"Beast Boy?" she gasped. Raven peered from the edge of her covers towards the front door, where the dim light of the hall lamps outside shone through and shadowed the person standing there. But even in the dim light, Beast Boy's small stature and insipid hair style were recognizable. He was panting for breath.

"I heard you calling," Beast Boy said as he switched on the light with a push of a button. "I didn't know you could talk to people through their minds. All I know is that you sounded like you were in trouble."

Raven slowly sat up, the blanket still covering her like a protective shield. Her face was barely visible from beneath the edge of the bed covering and her own disheveled hair. She was wide-eyed like a deer caught in headlights. "You... heard me?"

"Yeah." Beast Boy walked into the room, and the door closed behind him automatically. "I was surprised when the communicator said you were here. I thought you were with Terra and Star?"

Raven's breathing slowed as she started to calm down. Fear wasn't as powerful when you were with friends – even one friend. "I was. B-but..."

"Did something happen?" Beast Boy asked. Raven answered with silence. He frowned disappointedly. "Did you and Terra have problems again?"

Raven knew it was Terra's idea that they see a scary movie. But she didn't know where the monster came from. Raven probably scared herself with her powers like she'd done last time. So it wasn't Terra's fault that she'd been so frightened by the movie. Besides, she didn't want Beast Boy to get mad at her. Terra would know that Raven had said something about her. And Terra wouldn't like her anymore after that.

"N-no," she managed to say. "I just... got really scared." Raven bowed her head to show the shame she felt for revealing her moment of weakness. "I'm... a chicken."

Beast Boy was still amazed by the fact that Raven could act like such a different person depending on which "emotion" she was feeling that day. This side of Raven was the most surprising of all. When he met the timid side of Raven with that meditation mirror, she'd been so ashamed of all the things Raven had said about him and Cyborg over the prior months. She was so apologetic and so hungry for compassion and forgiveness. It was so different from the normal Raven that they seemed like two different people. And yet... this really was Raven, or at least a part of her that had been suppressed for years.

"I don't think you're a chicken," Beast Boy said. He walked over and sat on the edge of her bed. Raven pulled back, using the blanket as a shawl to cover her face and hide her weakness. Beast Boy smiled at her and managed to catch Raven's eyes with his own. "There's no way you're a chicken."

Raven slowly lowered her blanket and revealed more of her face. "But... I..."

"You don't cluck or have feathers, like this," Beast Boy said. He instantly changed into a green-feathered piece of poultry and clucked loudly and comically. He followed up with a little chicken-dance before shifting back into his normal form, feathers falling around him. "You don't look like that, do you?" he teased.

Despite herself, Raven giggled gently. The sound of the giggle actually surprised her. She – Timid – never giggled before. She felt her throat and opened her mouth slowly, trying to remember how she'd done it. She gawked at Beast Boy. "I..."

"Heh heh. Don't stop now. I tried for months and months to get you to do that."

Raven remembered the countless times he'd tried to make her "normal" self laugh at one of his jokes or one of his pranks. Not once in that time did she laugh. She didn't even crack a smile. After a while, Beast Boy's attempts to make her laugh grew fewer and fewer. By the time Terra arrived out of the desert and later joined the team, it seemed like he didn't joke around her at all anymore.

The gentle mystic looked up. "Why... did you stop?" she asked submissively.

Beast Boy frowned regretfully. "...You never laughed. My jokes irritated you, but I didn't want you to hate me for annoying you all the time. So I stopped. I guess, I figured it would be better that way."

"...You tell Terra jokes now. And she laughs and tells jokes back. That is why... you like her so much."

"There's more to it than that." Beast Boy rubbed his neck nervously. Talking about this with Raven seemed like a bad idea. But he didn't want to leave her in this dejected state. And talking seemed to be the best way to keep her spirits up, if only for the moment. "I like her for lots of reasons."

"...Oh." Raven felt her chest tighten. This feeling... it was apprehension. It was like her heart was slowly freezing. Slowly dying.

"Hey." Beast Boy bent down to catch her downcast eyes again. "You going to be alright?"

Raven curled up in her blanket. "I... guess so." She trembled at the thought of being alone again in this room. It was so dark and uninviting at night. And she still felt the lingering fear from before, clawing at her imagination and conjuring up illusions of bogey men at the corners of her room.

Beast Boy clicked his communicator and checked to see if Terra or Starfire were in the tower yet. There was no sign of them, so he clicked it off again. "How about I stay with you until the girls get back. They're probably worried about you."

"...They will not be long," Raven quietly noted. "They are fast."

Beast Boy put a hand on Raven's head. She looked up, surprised by the gentle gesture.

"Then I'll stay until then." Beast Boy shapechanged into a bloodhound and pawed his way across Raven's bed before plopping down like a normal dog would. The green dog glanced up at Raven, who seemed completely mesmerized by the green dog next to her.

Raven gently leaned down and wrapped an arm around the dog as if it were a big doll. She nuzzled against it, just like a child would, and clutched the creature for warmth and support. Her face was red from the thought of who this was she was holding in her arms. But the fact that he was a dog made it seem comical and comforting at the same time. She could never hold Beast Boy like this in his human form without causing a stir with the other Titans. But even in this form, Raven felt the warmth of his spirit coursing through her and melting the frost that formed around her apprehensive heart.

"Thank you... Beast... Boy..." Raven's words trailed off as her mind faded into darkness, and sleep overtook her. The excitement and fear had drained her more than she knew, and the comfort of her bed and the body next to her were enough to push her the rest of the way into dreamland. Beast Boy was stuck in her embrace. Not that he minded.

In the silence of the tender moment, tendrils of red light snaked from Raven's hand and moved with a will of their own. The content young man didn't notice a thing with his eyes or ears or nose – he was too busy enjoying Raven's warm body and the feel of her skin against his fur. The tendrils slithered from Raven's hand, each tendril carrying the taint of darkness within it, and entered the unsuspecting Titan without pain or feeling. Soon the tendrils disappeared completely, leaving both teens unaware of what just happened. A seed of evil had been planted.

It was the beginning of the end. The end of lives, the end of peace... and the end of Raven's happiness.


	4. Eighteen and Older

  
_ We all came here to witness this  
To watch you fall and see nothing new  
But I've got some news and this war is on  
Destined to take it all  
  
One year older  
One year meaner  
One year uglier  
One more reason  
One more riot  
One more left to go!  
  
Go!  
  
Dont be afraid of the future  
It doesnt include you, it only removes you  
Dont be afraid of the future  
It doesnt include you, it only removes you  
  
Wake up  
Its time to go  
You better leave now  
Wake up  
  
Wake up  
Its time to go  
You better leave now  
Wake up_

~~

  


The gymnasium of the Teen Titans was the most advanced recreation room built by man. It had the latest in superheroic exercise equipment, perfectly designed to continuously provide optimum training levels for the Teen Titans no matter how strong, or fast, or durability they became as their experience and natural abilities grew. There were weight machines, drone generators, and automated isometric units. But out of all these gadgets and gizmos, Terra felt the old fashioned punching bag was the best for getting rid of stress. Because you could imagine you were punching somebody you didn't like, and it really added something to the work-out.

"He was sleeping next to her. I found him in bed with her!" Terra slammed a fist into the punching bag and grunted to accentuate her force, then proceeded to pummel the bag with everything she had. When she and Starfire finally got home last night, they frantically searched for Raven for their own reasons. Starfire wanted to see if her dear friend was safe and sound. Terra wanted to apologize since her conscience caught up to her. They both found her at the same time, sleeping in her room with a canine Beast Boy in her arms.

Starfire thought it was cute. Terra burned like an erupting volcano. She would have pounced on the both of them and ripped them to shreds, but Starfire informed her that it was rude to wake up people who were sleeping. The alien grabbed the tiny Titan by the collar and carted her away to cool off, and she reminded Terra to apologize in the morning.

"Raven..." WHAM! WHAM! The punching bag would have begged for mercy if it could speak.

More and more, Terra wanted to rub Raven out like an ink stain. This wasn't just a matter of criminal loyalties now. Terra wanted Raven out of the picture forever. No matter what Raven did, Beast Boy found it cute. It was unreal. It was like the old adage about opposites attracting. He was the average kid – she was a goth chick with personal issues and a magically induced multiple personality disorder. What the hell was drawing them to each other!? Terra was ten times funnier and a thousand times cuter than Raven would ever be, and yet she felt like she was _losing_ this romance game!

Terra side-kicked the bag with a loud yell, nearly knocking it off its chains. The bag stretched and bounced back, and Terra resumed the beatdown with a rapid series of punches. Finally, she slammed one last fist into the bag and collapsed against it. Terra held on for support as she caught her breath and let herself calm down.

"I thought you liked me, Beast Boy," she muttered to herself. "Why are you doing this to me?"It was like Slade said when they first met. _Beast Boy can't keep his mouth shut forever._ Sooner or later, he would tell the things he wanted to keep a secret. And it looked like this secret would soon be public knowledge. Beast Boy liked Raven... more than her.

"Beast Boy's never slept with me when I was sad," she grouched. Terra turned to find another work-out to wear herself out with. Her downcast eyes saw a pair of boots connected to a uniform. She quickly looked up and saw Beast Boy standing there, hands in his pockets.

He'd heard every word.

Terra's glare intensified as the source of her stress presented itself. "Tell me the truth. Why have you been teasing me all this time if you really like _her_!"

Silence. Beast Boy simply frowned at her, as if bored by the subject. Terra felt like a knife had just gone into her heart. He wasn't even concerned!

"Fine. I hate you, you son of a-!"

Beast Boy grabbed Terra's arm and yanked her close to him before planting his mouth on hers. Terra's eyes nearly doubled in size from the sudden surprise of finding Beast Boy's tongue in her mouth, doing things she didn't know a human could do! But the passion (!?) behind the kiss drained away her resistance and her surprise until she was focused on nothing more than prolonging the contact.

Terra felt her anger draining away, as if she'd been drugged in preparation for a dental extraction. Beast Boy's kiss was making her body feel like mush. She could barely hold onto him for stability.

Beast Boy finally backed off, his hands letting go of her arm and sliding around her exposed midsection. Terra's eyes were closed, her lips still half-open from the almost violent interaction between her tongue and his. Beast Boy – being little more than thirteen – had never done anything close to a kiss like that. Whenever they went out, he and Terra held hands and pecked each other on the lips or the cheek when they were _really_ romancy. What just happened was... unbelievable.

"Your anger tastes _good_," Beast Boy said in a deep, serious voice. There was a sparkle in his eye, and his confident smile made him look like one of the predators he could change into. "Now... what were you saying?"

Terra struggled to remember. But her head was a jumbled mess after the hormone rush her body went through in that intense moment of passion (!!??). She couldn't bring herself out of her stupor. "I... don't... remember."

The green teenager grinned. "Good." He made a sound like a tiger's growl (a _real_ tiger's growl) to show his approval, then turned to leave the room. At the doorway, he stopped to add something. "I wouldn't worry about Raven. I can handle both of you. Heh heh heh."

Terra snapped out of her stupor. "What!?" But by the time she said it, Beast Boy was already gone. She put her hands on her hips indignantly. "That _jerk_! Who the hell does he think he is!? Get your butt back here you two-timer!" Terra stomped out of the gym to put in her two cents worth, but he wasn't at either end of the hallway. Terra remarked on how fast he was, and picked a random direction to pursue.

Beast Boy appeared from the shadows of the hallway, as calmly as if he'd been there the whole time. He smirked and lifted his fingers, which flowed with red light like a candle that gave off colored smoke. He chuckled softly to himself.

"Well... this is interesting." Beast Boy twirled his fingers around, watching as the trail materialized into the vague shape of a circle, only to become a hole in reality that led into the deepest, darkest pits of Hell. He blew on the hole gently, and the wisps of smoke disappeared along with the magical hole.

"This body will do for now," Beast Boy murmured, still mesmerized by the smoke trailing from his fingers. "All I have to do is prepare the ritual, and I'll be my old self once again... heh heh heh." He blew out the tips of his fingers, then turned to disappear into the nearest shadow.

~~

Raven opened her eyes to see the darkness of her own room. There were no windows in the Tower bedrooms, meaning that sunbeams couldn't peek into them to disturb sleeping teenagers if they wished to sleep until nine A.M. or later. Raven yawned and stretched her body loudly. She smacked her lips like someone chewing a piece of gum and scratched her stomach.

"'Bout time I woke up," Raven complained. "I want to get my kicks before 'big sis' decides to pass out again. There's so much to do." Raven sniffed her underarm and found the interesting odor of dog mixed with body sweat. She shrugged nonchalantly and headed straight for the door, not bothering to get a change of clothes or head into the bathroom for a shower. Like any disgusting child, 'Raven' felt sprucing up _again_ was unnecessary. Once a week sufficed for anybody.

Raven walked through the halls sluggishly, her morning weariness not yet dissipated. That changed when her nostrils were touched by a pungent aroma far different from the sterilized smell of the cold steel surrounding her. She took a deep whiff and inhaled the fresh scent of breakfast, courtesy of expert chef Cyborg.

"Pan~cakes!" she shouted. Raven raced headfirst into a wall where a shadow blanketed the side. But seconds before she reached it, the lamp turned off to perform an automated maintenance routine. The lamp's light disappeared along with the shadows it cast at its edges. Raven _slammed_ into the wall with enough force to knock the wind out of her and send her teetering backwards like a drunken mule.

"Oww..." Raven glared at the lamp. "Puke-smelling piece of crud!" Raven obliterated the tiny device with her magical abilities, showering the wall with glass shards. Raven found a different shadow, pounced into it, and disappeared instantly as if it were a toon's rabbit hole.

Raven popped up in the den within the shadow behind one of the comfort chairs. She crouched behind it and listened to the speaker above her. The calm, mildly masculine voice was Robin's, and he was talking to some young lady on the televiewer wall screen about replacing a faulty gear in the outdoor training course. The other conversant had to be a S.T.A.R. Labs techie – and from the sounds of it, she was an uptight dweeb, probably with huge glasses and plenty of zits to complement her geeky looks. This situation was ripe with possibilities...

_"So you would like a replacement XFC-900 bi-rotary gear?"_ the girl asked. Robin confirmed it. _"Will that be cash or charge?"_

"We'll pay for it in trade!" Raven shouted. "Here's your piece!" She used a little magic and flicked it at Robin. Suddenly, the stunned hero was standing in the middle of the room as before, naked save for his ever present mask and a pair of green speedo-looking underwear. The girl on the televiewer gasped and covered her eyes in shock, while Robin jumped behind the nearest couch. He grabbed the remote there and quickly thanked the lady for her time before turning the screen off.

Raven cackled evilly behind the chair. "Score! One for me, zero for- _*gak!!*_" Robin had one hand firmly around Raven's throat before she even knew he'd crossed the room.

"Let me go, you snot-eating puke head!" she shouted as she struggled. "Azarath, Metrion- _*gaaak!*_" Robin tightened the grip on the last part of the chant, cutting it short before it could materialize. He placed his thumb firmly on the base of Raven's neck, where the spinal cord connected to the brain.

"My thumb is on your Tetra Quarzan chakra," he said grimly. "You can't cast your magic – only undo it. Now give me back my clothes."

"Can't you take a joke?" Raven said with a scratchy voice. "I'm just clowning around."

"Little tip, 'Raven'. Never say _joke_ or _clown_ to a kid from Gotham City. Now gimme back my clothes."

Raven snapped her fingers, and instantly Robin's uniform materialized on his body again. Robin let go of the struggling magician, who staggered to the couch and plopped down, her voice wheezing as she reclaimed her ability to fully breathe.

"Geez, it was just a... I was just saying good morning," Raven grouched. She gave her aching throat one final inhalation, and seemed to accumulate a loogie because of it. She opened a dimensional hole beside her and shot the loogie through the hole with expert skill before closing it up again. Robin looked on with disgust. He wished he hadn't seen that.

Cyborg walked out of the kitchen area, pan in hand and spatula in the other. His massive robotic body was obscured by his 'Ladies like heavy metal' chef apron. He even had a chef's white cap on his head. "What's all the ruckus out here?"

"Robin went medieval on me just because I gave one of the techie chicks the thrill of her life," Raven complained, still rubbing her throat. "And not in a lesbian way."

Cyborg scrunched his nose. "Thanks for clearing that up." He then looked over at Robin, who looked as angry as a short caucasian boy could look. "Who do we have the pleasure of?"

"Either Raven has a really irritating and disgusting side to her," Robin said. "Or she's trying to become Micheal Keaton from the movie Beetlejuice."

Raven scratched the side of her head with her middle finger, making sure that Robin saw her doing this. "You wish, bird boy."

"You're making bird jokes?" Robin countered. Raven stuck her tongue at him.

"That's enough you two," Cyborg snapped. Both teens crossed their arms and huffed. "Now look, we agreed to help Raven through her difficult time. So why don't you just kiss and make up."

"Works for me!" Raven said. She leapt like a panther across the room and pounced Robin so that he fell back into the chair she phased from. Now she was straddling the hapless hero and wrapping her arms around him, trying to keep him from escaping. "Kiss me, big boy!"

Cyborg sweatdropped as Robin wrestled free and escaped. Raven pursued him like a bird of prey. "This... is going to be an interesting day."

~~

Breakfast was interesting from a spectator's perspective. It started with everyone gathering in the den as usual. Cyborg was already there preparing his world famous homemade waffles and setting the table. Robin was trying to keep the smelly Raven away from her, as she kept making lewd comments about his uniform and his "pecking ability". By the time Starfire showed up to greet the gathering, Robin was thoroughly annoyed and Raven was in the middle of one her many glomp attempts. So Starfire went ballistic. An argument ensued between Raven and the alien about Robin, but it was cleverly disguised as an argument about "being nice to people who don't want to be touched".

Terra and Beast Boy showed up around the time this was settled. Terra was arguing with Beast Boy at some comment he made, while the green teenager was vehemently claiming that he didn't remember saying that to her. He claimed that the first thing he remembered was waking up next to Raven, then going to his room to shower. Then he ran into Terra in the hall on his way to the den for breakfast. Terra yelled that he rammed his tongue down her throat this morning, and _that_ opened up an even bigger can of worms. It took the use of Cyborg's sonic cannon to control the riot and force everyone to sit down at the breakfast table like decent human beings.

"Al~right!" Cyborg proclaimed as he brought out the first few plates of waffles. "No day can start without my patented Blueberry-Cherry Waffles!"

"But many days have begun without us partaking of your waffles," Starfire mused, her cheeks glowing sweetly. Cyborg sweatdropped and dropped one of the plates in front of the alien, who thanked him obliviously before digging in.

"Here you go, kids," Cyborg said, following up with Raven's and Terra's plates. Terra grabbed her empty cup and poured some Sunny D into it, while Raven grabbed her utensils and started devouring the one waffle on her plate. Cyborg and Terra stared wide-eyed at the girl between them. Raven ate hardly anything, and it took her forever to eat because she always cut her food and chewed it slowly. Yet at that moment, Raven was sucking the plate dry like a starving orphan.

"More!" she said excitedly. Raven used her magic to grab three more waffles from the stacks in the kitchen and brought them to her plate. She dumped the three waffles in maple syrup, then knifed butter between every layer as if it were jelly. Raven went to work on this stack as well. It was painful for the others to watch.

"Uhh... you know Raven..." Cyborg started. 

Starfire cooed excitedly as her fork struck something in her waffle. She fished it out and quickly cleaned off the waffle material with a napkin. Starfire happily displayed a Neopet statuette. "I found a prize in my waffle!"

Robin smiled. "Cy told you he'd do it."

"Thank you, Cyborg!" she cheered.

Cyborg was still staring at Raven's plate. "...I made one for Raven too. But... I don't know where it went."

Raven froze, half of a waffle snaking down her throat. "What?" The table blinked at her.

"Did you swallow your prize?" Starfire asked. "Is that possible for the human throat to do?" Robin and Cyborg sweatdropped even more. Technically, swallowing a Neopet would kill most people unless they were extremely lucky.

Raven looked at the plate of half-eaten waffles, and shrugged. "Eh. I'll get it when it comes out the other end."

Cyborg face-palmed so hard that a spark flew from the metal half of his face. "Oh man, I did _NOT_ want to hear that!" The rest of the table showed similar sentiments. Raven continued scarfing down her waffles, her lips and cheeks covered in syrup and food flakes thanks to her sloppy eating.

Terra leaned over to Beast Boy, who'd been quietly eating the entire time. "This is the girl you're in love with?" she whispered with sardonic disdain.

Beast Boy threw his utensils down. "For the last time, I am NOT in LOVE with RAVEN! How many times do I have... to..." Beast Boy realized a little too late that he and Terra weren't alone anymore. Raven glanced up from her waffles at the sound of her name. The other half of the table looked on.

"I uh... I mean... I didn't mean it that way."

"What're you talking about!?" Terra shouted. "How are we supposed to take that! Either you LOVE somebody or you DON'T! There's no in-between!"

"Do you guys want some time alone...?" Cyborg asked. Both teens shouted 'No!' in response, knocking him back into his chair with the wind behind their voices.

"That's okay kid," Raven said as she finally took a napkin and wiped it across her face as an afterthought. "I'm not all that fond of you either."

Beast Boy and Terra stopped in mid-argument and stared. "Wh-what?" they said in unison.

"I kinda have the hots for some other superhero," Raven said, sneakily grinning at Robin. "One who fills out his suit much better." Robin glared back. Cyborg shook his head and lamented over the way this day was going.

Beast Boy blinked loudly and scratched his head. "Uh... huh?"

Terra couldn't stand it. _WHO ARE YOU!?_ No matter how loud she yelled it in her head, she couldn't bring herself to ask it in real life. All she'd get is a stupid answer, like 'I'm Raven'. But Terra was quickly learning that there was more to that statement than one could possibly imagine. 

Terra pounced on Raven's statement nonetheless. "You see! She likes Robin, not you!"

"She does _not_ like Robin!" Starfire proclaimed, hugging said-hero in a death grip. "She said she likes 'some other superhero'!" 

Robin sweatdropped. "Uh, Star..."

His sentence was cut off by the Titans communicator. Everyone's alarm piece went off and started blinking rapidly to indicate a super-crime going on within the city. The teens drew their comm devices and activated them to find out the situation synopsis.

"Whoa... this isn't good," Cyborg said, reading the synopsis in his eyepiece. "Two bad guys for the price of one."

"One's down by the old tile processing plant," Robin noted. "The other's at the stadium. That place is filled to full capacity right now!"

"The one at the stadium feels like some sort of magical force," Raven said, her voice returning to her 'normal' monotone flavor. It seemed that her emotional occupant had taken a backseat during this moment of seriousness. "The fact that I can feel it from here means it's really strong... or its source is nearby." Raven paused thoughtfully at that.

"Should we split into two teams, then?" Starfire suggested.

"This kind of force can't be fought with physical combat," Raven said. "None of you guys can really help me here. I'll go alone."

"Are you sure you'll be okay?" Beast Boy asked. "Even if we can't fight it, at least we can watch your back."

"I'm an empath," she said icily. "I don't _need_ you to watch my back."

"She needs help watching her _mouth_ though," Terra muttered. Raven glared at her.

"Fine, you handle the magical thing," Robin said. He cracked a smile. "And take your time. I really don't want to see that other side of you for a while."

Raven's expression changed into one with a lot more attitude. "Hey, I heard that you~!" Raven quickly covered her mouth to prevent the rest of the outburst. She reasserted herself and regained control of her body – specifically her mouth so that she wouldn't say anything else out-of-character.

"Oooo-kay," Cyborg said. "We'd better get going before the party starts without us."

"Right. Titans, GO!" The team raced to the hangar to board their deployment jet, then sped off into the morning sky towards the danger. As Raven waited for them to reach her drop-off point, she muttered to herself about cleanliness and tried to magically clean herself while Gross was incapacitated.

Raven looked up from her spellcasting to see Terra staring at her. She frowned lightly. "What?"

The blond girl shook her head slightly. "I don't know what to think of you. I mean... this you now is as different from the others as they are from each other. Which of you is the real you?"

"... I don't know," Raven muttered dismissively. "I'm still trying to find that out for myself." She looked up when she felt fresh and clean, thanks to an improvised, but effective cantrip. "Why do you care?"

Terra blushed slightly as she prepared to admit something personal. "Well... the whole point of this is to find the real you, and then be her. I was just wondering if the real you would... end up liking someone else. I can't really hate the real you, because you'll be a lot different from who you are now. We won't be at odds anymore."

Raven scowled a bit. "I guess. Nice to know I'm so loved by my teammates."

Terra's gentle expression turned cold again. "I'm trying to make peace with you. Don't you understand what I'm feeling right now?"

"Well, duh. I'm an empath."

"You know what I mean," she scowled back. "We've had problems from day one because you're a heartless goth who enjoys teasing my boyfriend with your 'I-like-you-but-I-don't-have-a-heart-woe-is-me' bit. The truth is that you don't deserve his attention, and I'm sick of competing with someone whose not a real person. You're just a ghost that needs to be ignored – a shadow."

"I'm not heartless. Nor am I a 'shadow'," Raven said indignantly. As an afterthought, she added, "And Beast Boy isn't your boyfriend." 

Terra stared daggers at her in reply. Once again, she'd remembered what it was she hated about Raven. It was her lack of continuity. Nobody could tell whether she was serious, or simply laying on the sarcasm as was her usual response to things.

"I hope you fail to find your true self," Terra growled. "Then things will go back to normal. I can go on hating you without feeling guilty about it."

Raven watched her wander to the front of the jet, leaving her alone in the drop zone. She knew she should feel sad, but her emotions lacked intensity in her normal state. She felt a twinge of guilt, a trickle of sorrow, and a moment of concern. Then they disappeared as easily as a childhood memory. Raven felt nothing.

_I'm not a shadow,_ Raven thought. _Because a shadow still needs light to exist. There is no light in a soul born from the Devil. There is no light in my life... without someone like him to comfort me._

__She opened the rear doors to reveal the cloud-covered skies above the San Francisco stadium. She pulled her hood around her head, then fell effortlessly from the ship like a bird that'd lost its wings. When her eyes were closed and her body was angled just right, it felt like she was soaring upwards to Heaven instead of falling downwards to what lay there.

It was a feeling she cherished while it lasted.

~~

The stadium cleared out quickly thanks to the fire emergency system and its lighted walkways guiding everyone to their nearest exits. By the time Raven floated to the playing field within the stadium, almost every stand was empty except for a few workers checking to make sure their customers were safe and out of the way. On the field itself though, there were still people trying to be heroic even though it was more dangerous than they could imagine.

"Get back!" shouted a football player, wielding a wooden bench as a weapon. He and his teammates threw everything they could get their hands on to stall the enemy before them. The threat manifested as a hazy, mostly invisible force that was big enough to be an elephant but had the distinct outline of something humanoid. Everything the football players threw or swung at the creature passed through it like it was air. In truth, it wasn't even that. Magic had no physical form until it was "released" or "opened". In other words, the players were wasting their time.

The monster suddenly shot an arm at the football player with the bench and "grabbed" him with a telekinetic grip. The player gasped as his heart was clenched tightly by this invisible force to hold him still. The man screamed and cried for help as he felt his body losing its strength. His life force – the vitality that gave him his youth and the strength to play his favorite game – was being slowly drained by the invisible attacker. His friends tried to pull him free, but their efforts were futile. Only magic could fight magic.

And that's where Raven came in. With a wave of her hand, she launched a telekinetic force bolt that snapped against the creature's main body, knocking it back and making it stumble enough to lose its grip on the man's body. The creature rolled to its feet and reached out for the players again, but Raven pressed the attack until the creature roared and backed off to defend itself from the onslaught.

"Go," Raven hissed, walking to where the men gathered. "Get out of the stadium, now. I'll deal with this." The players hastily agreed and made a beeline for the field exit. The monster was about to pursue them, when Raven intercepted and blocked his charge with a telekinetic shield that hovered inches from her arm. The monster jumped back and roared in a way that could not be compared to any animal. It was an unearthly scream.

Raven released a wave of telepathic thought, intended to make unseen things visible to those who used the five senses of the physical world. The invisible monster materialized into the shape of a humanoid demon with violet-gray skin and burning orange eyes, and a mane of black hair around its face. The creature had four leathery wings protruding from his back, though they were too torn and misshapen to actually function. The demon had fangs that dripped ectoplasm across its chest and onto the ground, where it became invisible once again.

_This thing... I recognize it. I've seen it before, but... when? Where?_ Raven gasped as she realized what made this creature so familiar to her. She'd seen it in her youth, when she was barely old enough to think and remember. This kind of monster attacked her home in Azarath, on _that_ day long ago. The day Trigon attacked Azarath and tried to take her away. The day her mother died protecting her. The day she was told to never feel emotions again.

_This is one of my father's minions! _Raven parried a storm of claw strikes with her shield, each blow weakening her more and more. _But that's impossible! Trigon was killed... or at least his physical body died. How did this one get to this dimension? Unless... I brought him here._

The demon balled up its fists and slammed them against Raven's shield, shattering it like glass and showering pieces of the magical barrier everywhere, which became invisible just like the monster's drool did when it left a certain area. The monster rushed forward and punted Raven with all its might, sending her flying towards the goal posts down field and through the two field goal posts. She managed to stop herself before she hit the ground.

"HA!" Raven telekinetically grabbed a handful of water coolers from the sidelines and threw them across the field to where the demon stood. The creature seemed to dim for a moment, at which point the coolers flew through it like he wasn't there. His color solidified once again, and he stalked towards Raven as she continued to throw things at him. Each time something came close, the monster either batted it aside or phased through it like a ghost. Nothing seemed to hurt it.

_He can materialize and dematerialize at will, _Raven realized. _He's definitely an astral spirit... a 'Soul Self'. Could it have come here looking for me, like when I was child? _Raven started to feel guilty. The timing of this event was too perfect. _It must be because... I risked using my emotions more freely. This thing is here because of me._

The monster leapt into the air to grab her, but Raven swooped out of the way just in time. The creature landed and slid to a halt before rubbing against the edge of the stadium, then charged towards the goal post to grab it and use it like a pitchfork. Raven attacked from the air, throwing bolt after bolt to try and hurt the beast. But the bolts did nothing more than damage and eventually destroy the goal post in his hands. The monster remained unharmed, and was quickly getting angrier.

_I can't leave this thing here,_ Raven said. _I have to get rid of it. But... how? It's too strong for my bolts, and there's no way to attack it physically._

_Why don't you fight fire with fire, genius? _Gross said from within. She was still hovering in the limbo of Raven's inner monologue, the point at which subconsciousness and consciousness connected.

Raven frowned. _I can't. I'm not strong enough._

_Then I'll help you, you whiny puss bucket. The sooner we finish this no-count, the sooner I can get my hands on Robbie-poo's sweet ass._

_There's no way we can be from the same soul,_ Raven muttered internally. She opened her palm and focused her mind. It was time to unleash her secret weapon. "Azarath, Metrion, Synthos."

A stream of blackness erupted from Raven's hand like smoke, then materialized as a gigantic, demonic raven at the center of the field. It was even taller than the demon spirit by five or six feet, and its wingspan was more than twice the size of the raven itself. Raven's soul-self dwarfed the demon easily. And yet, she was worried. If this didn't work, she wouldn't even have the energy to defend herself or fly away. She was taking a risk. But unfortunately, Gross was right. She had to fight an intangible spirit with another intangible spirit.

_Okay, you said you'd help,_ Raven thought angrily. _Now, help._

_I'm going, I'm going. It's my first time, remember? I've never done this since you didn't learn how to do this until 'Daddy' came to visit 'Mommy' and us in Azarath._

Raven projected her irritation at Gross like a wave. It was like hitting someone in the head with a really, really big hammer. Gross figured out that she'd better shut up before Raven did something she'd regret.

_Okay, here goes. Azarath, Metrion, Synthos!_ Raven opened her other hand, and this time a stream of orange smoke shot to the ground and coalesced into a second intangible entity – another soul-self. This one was a red demon with a humanoid shape and exaggerated female features that would make any low-brow man drool with delight. She held up her clawed fingers, flexed her demonic wings, and smiled a toothy grin.

_...That's your help? Manifesting your own lustful negativity into a weak, little spirit?_

_Look, I offered you my help and you accepted it. If you're going to whine about it, we might as well throw in the towel right now. But if you're ready to get off your high horse, miss 'positivity only', then you'd better do it now before we get our asses kicked._

Raven growled, but agreed. She willed her avian soul-self to take to the sky, while the succubus spirit motioned for the demon to approach her. The demon gladly obeyed and smashed its fists into the ground where the succubus was moments before. The demons fought back and forth, while Raven guided her soul-self into firing position.

_If nothing else, your spirit makes a good distraction,_ Raven noted.

_Just hurry up and kill the damn thing, ple~ase!_ The succubus was crushed in a bear hug by the minion, and the pain of that attack transferred to Gross' spiritual self as well. Raven could only imagine what kind of pain she was feeling from a monster with that much physical strength.

Raven focused her magic and chanted her magic words, channeling all the magical power she had left into her soul-self. The giant raven's four eyes glowed with red energy as it called upon its own spiritual attack – an ebony flame made from the fire of Raven's soul. The spirit put all of its (Raven's) strength into one final attack and let it fly as a draconian breath.

The demonic minion crushed the life out of the succubus, turning it into nothing more than particles of magical dust. The monster turned around just long enough to see the instrument of its demise. The prepared flame scorched the monster's astral form and burned until there was nothing left.

Raven smiled victoriously as she called back her soul-self and gladly reabsorbed its energy. "We did it. I mean... 'I' did it."

_Oww.... unnh..._ Gross moaned and groaned from the pain of having her spirit crushed to pieces and its pain transferred to her. _I'm going to need a chiropractor after that close encounter. Maybe I can get Robbie-poo to gimme a massage when this is all over._ Raven twitched at the thought of a guy she thought of as her surrogate brother touching her like that.

_I'm worried about the others,_ Raven admitted. _If this spirit really was one of Father's minions, then either He or one of his servants must be here. I would know if that thing came from my soul._

_You mean 'Smarty pants' would know. She's the only one of us who pays attention to what goes on in your head._

Raven agreed. Smart – her motherly double – seemed to know when things went wrong in her head. And yet, releasing her emotional barriers was her idea. Something about that made Raven wonder if Smart knew what was going on. But she didn't want to ask her now. Raven wanted to find her friends and help them deal with whatever threat was at the abandoned plant first.

_And before you ask, I'm not going to ask Smarty what the deal is. I don't wanna lose my place in line! I have an appointment with Robin's, shall we say, nice beak._

_You're disgusting,_ Raven said in understatement as she flew away.

~~

Beast Boy slowly opened his eyes, which had taken on a darker hue and an even darker visage in the interim of a blink. A trickle of blood ran down his nose from the internal damage of having his minion destroyed. Raven had performed as expected. Everything was going according to His plan.

"There's nothing here," Cyborg said as he panned the vast, lifeless factory. "I've scanned on every frequency I've got, and all I found were a bunch of rats and an old box of noodles."

"That's because there _is_ nothing here," Beast Boy said coldly. "Your communicator was easy to fool with one of my many illusion spells."

All the other Titans gave him a strange look.

"Eh, Beast Boy?" Robin started. "If you were trying to make a joke, it wasn't very funny."

"Whose joking?" Beast Boy gave him a solid right hook that took the Boy Wonder by surprise and sent him crashing through several crates as if a car had run into him. Robin disappeared under a pile of old tiles that crashed on top of his downed body.

Starfire and the other Titans gasped. "Beast Boy, what have you done!?"

"You knocked Rob' cold in one punch!" Cyborg shouted. "What kind of tofu have you been eating?" The metal Titan was knocked down next by a solid hit from Beast Boy, who ran the short distance to him with startling speed and clocked the armored teen as if he were nothing. Cyborg didn't skid quite as far as Robin, and he wasn't knocked unconscious because of sheer durability, but he still felt the punch nonetheless. Terra ran over to where he fell to see if he was damaged, but he sat up quickly and joined Terra in gawking at the estranged Titan.

Starfire grabbed Beast Boy in a tight bear hug to prevent him from moving. "Beast Boy, why are you acting so strange? We are your friends!"

"Call it a change of loyalties, babe." Beast Boy headbutted the tamaranean with startling force, knocking Starfire senseless and making her stumble backwards from the sudden shock. As she fell to her knees from dizziness, Beast Boy kicked her jaw with equally surprising strength, causing her to spit blood as she was put down completely.

Terra watched in fear, unsure of what to do. "Beast Boy..."

Cyborg unsheathed his sonic cannon and aimed it squarely at his pal. "I don't know what the deal is, but I'm gonna shut you up until we figure it out!" Cyborg's cannon blasted a sonic wave that catapulted through the air and shook the room with its secondary reverberations.

Beast Boy held up his hand and "caught" the wave, deflecting it in every direction as if a hose were spraying instead of the single deadliest weapon in the Teen Titans' arsenal. Beast Boy shouted an unintelligible word, and a red beam sliced through the sonic attack and punctured Cyborg's weapon-arm, causing it to short-circuit and explode. Cyborg fell sideways as his mechanical arm was reduced to rubble, leaving him short one arm and structurally damaged from the internal explosion. He tried to get back up immediately, but he needed to regain his sense of balance first. Beast Boy took this opportunity to walk over, hold up Cyborg by the front as if he were a rag doll, and punch his lights out with a solid right hook. Beast Boy dropped the limp Titan and set his sights on Terra, who was still paralyzed with indecision.

"Beast Boy... I thought..."

"You thought you were the only traitor in the tower," he said as he walked over, smiling and towering over the girl in terms of confidence even though they were the same height. "Well, I've got a news flash for you. Everyone has a dark side. And if you plant the right seed, you can bring out that dark side for the world to see. Just like Slade did with you."

Terra went pale. "Then... you know my secret..."

"_I_ know your secret. But Beast Boy doesn't know," he said with a grin. "Not the 'normal' one, anyway. For him, this is like a dream. He probably won't remember this by the time I'm finally through borrowing his body."

Terra's body trembled as she realized, with frightening certainty, that she was way out of her league here. The rules of the game had changed. "If you're not Beast Boy, then... who are you?"

Beast Boy put a hand on Terra's cheek and leaned close. "I go by a lot of names – Satan, Lucifer, Beelzebub, Malebolgia... But for now, why don't you do the honors."

The girl was too terrified to move away. She wanted to scream, but her throat couldn't do it. She could barely whisper. "Oh my... God..."

Beast Boy smirked lightly. "Heh heh heh.... That's what Daddy likes to hear."

~~


	5. Five Pointed Stars

_ The sewers belch me up  
The heavens spit me out  
From ethers tragic I am born again   
And now I'm with you now   
Inside your world of wow   
To move in desires made of deadly pretends   
Till the end times begin  
  
Is it bright where you are   
Have the people changed   
Does it make you happy you're so strange   
And in your darkest hour, I hold secrets flame   
You can watch the world devoured in it's pain   
Strange  
_

~~

Smart looked up at the sky as it rumbled dangerously. A storm was brewing. Since she lived in Raven's mind like the other emotional fragments, that meant more than a coming downpour. A storm in Raven's mind meant that she was afraid, confused, and mad. It was the telltale sign of her emotions going past their preset boundaries.

"Wee~ee, a rain storm!!" Happy cheered. She spun around and sang a childish rhyme about rain as the first drops started to fall. The clouds shrouded he dark, frankensteinian castle where Raven's fragments lived. Happy danced on the turrets at the castle top to greet these clouds and the rain they shared.

Smart looked on sadly, then pulled her yellow hood firmly over her head to keep the rain from drenching her face and her thick glasses. A bolt of red lightning struck the horizon far away, and the resulting thunderclap echoed over them. A subsidiary bolt of steel gray lightning hit on the same horizon, resulting in yet another thunderbolt.

"Red symbolizes Father's anger," Brave noted solemnly as she watched the horizon with firm, unyielding eyes. "And gray symbolizes little Timid's fear. Raven must be feeling these emotions now." 

Brave looked over at Smart, who had her head bowed to avoid the rain and to hide her expression from her wise sister. 

"Raven is in trouble, isn't she. She wouldn't be afraid of a 'normal' super-villain."

Smart didn't answer. Brave took a few steps towards her and propped herself against the castle wall. Smart trembled underneath the falling rain, her personal emotions superseding her usually bright demeanor.

"You knew this would happen, didn't you," Brave said grimly.

Smart gasped tearfully, but managed to suppress most of her weeping. "Pigeon. Raven... is the most important thing in the world to me! As her superego, I feel like I am Raven's guardian – her mother. I only want the best for her. I wanted her to be free..."

The thunder rolled above. Happy greeted the natural roar with a childish roar of her own. She whooped and challenged the sky to a yelling contest in her own, peculiar manner. She was unaware of the solemn conversation going on between her two sisters.

Brave knelt in the rain in front of Smart. "Why did you lie to Raven about her strength?"

"It wasn't a lie! At least..." Smart looked up, her eyes streaming with tears that stood out even amongst the rain drops that managed to splash on her face. Brave looked into her eyes, calm as always. This gave Smart the strength she needed to speak of her sin.

_**flashback**_

"Draw straws. It's the only fair way to do it."

"Good idea." Raven jumped up to go break the news. Quickly she turned and ran over to hug Smart. She didn't hug people in real life, but here she didn't have to worry about hiding her feelings as much. And such news deserved a hug. "Thank you."

"Don't thank me. Thank you." Raven nodded happily and ran out of the room to find the others. Smart watched her leave with a satisfied grin.

_Follow her._

Smart stood up, the smile on her face not leaving for an instant, and followed her happy counterpart out of the room. Soon, she and the other spirits would get a chance to see the real world. And if all went well, they'd all be reunited and become one real person again. The thought of such a joyous occasion was staggering.

She just hoped that everything would be okay.

_Everything will be okay. I promise._

_**end flashback**_

"Recently, I have taken it upon myself to try and... counsel, our wayward sister," Smart said. She delicately rubbed away the tears beneath her eyes. "I have spoken with Anger on occasion, to find out how much of her is Trigon, and how much of her is Pigeon."

Brave frowned. "You let 'Him' get to you."

"I had only the best intentions!" Smart said in her defense. "Anger seemed so docile, so weak, and her comments about Raven's strength made sense to me. I truly felt that dear Raven was strong enough to conquer her father's ghost."

"That is His way," Brave said. "His words always sound innocent and truthful. But they ultimately serve his purposes."

Smart gasped fitfully as sadness overtook her. "I'm so sorry... I did not mean for this to happen. I was afraid of what might happen, but I truly believed..."

Brave put her hand on her sister's shoulder. "You did what you thought was right. There's no reason to apologize." She stood up and turned to face the distant storm that signified Raven's confusion. The red lightning bolts were becoming more and more frequent. Trigon's influence was spreading, both inside Raven and outside in the real world.

"We have to fix this, though" Brave said, her eyes not showing any fear, or any doubt. "Before Trigon is ressurected. We cannot kill him, but we can weaken and entrap him again."

Smart looked up at her sister. Brave sounded so calm, yet the situation was so grim. "But... how? He is free of our prison."

"I don't know. But we'll find a way. We have to. Because nobody else can stop Him but us."

~~

Raven flew across the skies of San Francisco as fast as she could manage. At the same time, Raven watched the skies above. They rumbled menacingly with an impending storm. Black clouds buried the city in darkness, and the skies behind the clouds took on a reddish hue as if the sun were on the verge of rising, even though it was mid-morning. Raven felt the taint of evil in the air. And for once, it wasn't her own, inherent darkness that she felt.

"_Something is making its presence known,"_ Raven noted thoughtfully. "_And it feels familiar. But, it can't be him."_

"_What makes you so sure, Lame-oid?"_ Gross said, always helpful. "_Dad ain't exactly one of your Mumbo Jumbo loser-villains. He's a planet-killer."_

"_He died shortly after he attacked Azarath,"_ Raven said. "_Even in death, he's a menace to the universe. But he shouldn't be able to manifest like this. If he died in an astral battle, his link to the physical world was severed. He can't become a ghost or possess anyone without a link."_

__Raven frowned. "_So this feeling... it must be something else. Another demon, perhaps."_

_"I don't know,"_ Gross said. "_And I don't really care. If Dad wants to take over the universe, that's fine with me. I mean, we're his daughter. He'll probably make us Queen of the world."_

Raven stopped in mid-flight. Gross' spiritual self appeared a few feet in front of her as Raven brought her full consciousness to bear. "_How can you be so uncaring!? Don't you care what happens to anyone besides yourself!?"_

"_Oh, look whose talking!"_ Gross shot back. "_I'm you, remember? Why should I care about anyone? People don't care about anyone but themselves!"_

"_That's not true."_

"_Oh yeah!" _Gross snapped. "_Prove it!"_

Raven blushed slightly, but remained firm in her conviction. "_I care about Beast Boy!"_

Gross made a buzzer noise. "_ENNH! Wrong! You don't care about him – you NEED him! You only want him because he actually treated you like a normal person, for a little while. You want him because you can't live without that feeling. You're selfish!"_

"_I-!"_ Raven tried to protest. "_I..."_

Gross smirked in a cocky manner. "_Remember the dream that started this whole thing? That dream where you and little B-Boy go to the aquarium together? Like a _normal_ couple?"_

Raven remembered it vividly. She remembered feeling so disgusted with the dream, at least on the surface. Deep in her heart, she knew the dream made her feel good. It gave her hope. She never admitted it to herself until now.

"_You don't love Beast Boy,"_ Gross said, her words stinging like a wasp's needle. "_You CAN'T love Beast Boy. You're a blank slate, remember? You stuck us emotions in that rat hole you call a subconscience and left us there to rot, because Dad can use that to corrupt and enslave you. Very noble and all, but it rules out any RELATIONSHIP you might imagine having."_

"_No!"_ Raven shouted. It was all she could think to say.

"_Think of it this way, 'sister',"_ Gross said. _"He's like a pet dog. You need him for support and to give your pathetic life meaning in the place of real relationships. But you can't fall in love with him. And he can't fall in love with you. Because you're not the same as him. He's human, and you're not."_

Raven's eyes watered as she listened. She couldn't break her gaze with Gross, nor could she shut her eyes and block out her cruel words. Gross was inside her, an unbreakable part of her. Raven was basically telling herself the "truth" that part of her had known all along. She wasn't human – not really.

"_That's why I act the way I do,"_ Gross said, a bit more calmly now that she'd gotten her point across. "_You may think I'm lewd, crude, and disgusting. But at least I know who and what I am, and I can accept it."_

Gross glared at Raven, who was still on the verge of tears. "_Those tears are your human side's attempt to be normal. But deep inside... you don't feel a thing. You're a blank slate. A shadow."_

Raven tried to prove her wrong. She tried – she ORDERED herself – to cry. The tears dangled precariously at the edge of her eyes, but they never fell. She just didn't feel sad. Only cold, empty... and angry. That emotion was the only one she could feel, and it was the one that inevitably brought out Father's evil inside her.

Gross scratched herself unceremoniously. "_Pain and Hatred knew this. That's why they went with Anger when she escaped."_

Raven's gaze jerked up. "_What!?"_

"_They left when you were giving Timid her turn,"_ Gross smirked. "_You had to let your barriers down to give us our turns with your body. 'Anger' couldn't escape by herself, but Pain and Hatred were more than enough help for Him to leave."_

"_You knew about this!?"_ Raven yelled. "_Whose side are you on!? If this world dies and Father takes control of me, you'll disappear too!"_

Gross frowned slightly. "_Life's a bitch, then you die. Besides... I'd rather disappear into Father's evil than spend another day in that stuffy castle. I want out. I can't live like this no more. And neither can the others."_

Raven felt anxiety building up in her chest. Every facet of her soul – Smart, Timid, Happy, all the others – wanted to escape the dreary existence that Raven had forced on herself, to prevent Trigon from using her as a tool for His evil. But she'd suppressed herself for so long, that her own soul betrayed her. Anger only had to call on her negative selves, and they was enough to shatter her defenses completely.

Raven had failed her life's mission.

"_That presence you're feeling _is_ Trigon,"_ Gross said somberly. "_The fragment of his life essence that exists inside you – our sister Anger – escaped and possessed one of your friends. I think you can guess who that is."_

__Raven shut her eyes in a vain attempt to ignore those words. But they conjured up an image of the one who could bring light to her life – the light she wanted so desperately. Beast Boy...

__"_Father will use your friends as sacrifices in a ritual to bring His main body to this world and reunite with it. And you know what'll happen after that."_

Raven couldn't even look up. In her dejected state of hopelessness, she couldn't even contemplate the horror that would come after Trigon arrived in this world. No force, superhero or otherwise, could stop him. He was a god of darkness – the source of evil in hundreds of dimensions. There was no force that could stop him. The last force that faced his full power – 'God' – died to save the universe. Now, because of Raven's selfishness, that sacrifice would be for naught.

The universe, her friends, and her light, would all be snuffed out because of her foolish desire to be like everyone else. Her selfishness had doomed them all.

"_So. What are you going to do?"_ Gross faded from view, and disappeared into Raven's subconsciousness to return to the castle. Raven was left all alone. She was crushed under the weight of Gross' revelations. The old adage about the truth hurting was never truer than it was now.

~~

Starfire awoke with her arms and legs tied at the wrists and ankles, respectively. She struggled with the mundane ropes to break free, but she was surprised to find that they didn't break even with her superhuman strength. Starfire called some of her star energy into her hand and tried to burn through the rope binding her wrists, but again nothing happened. She eventually gave up and extinguished the flame around her hand.

"Don't bother," Beast Boy said, his voice deeper than usual but still having that young, almost gentle tone the Titans associated with him. Starfire looked to her side, where she saw Beast Boy tying Robin's arms and legs in the same way hers were tied. A quick check revealed that Cyborg and Terra were in tied up as well nearby. She seemed to be the only one conscious at the moment. She could still feel the sting of Beast Boy's kick on her cheek.

"Those ropes are enchanted by an indestructibility spell," Beast Boy said, waltzing over to kneel beside the bound alien. "Nothing except magic can break these ropes now. And I'm afraid that your magician won't be much help to you."

"Where is Raven!" Starfire demanded. "What have you done with her!"

"She is on her way," Beast Boy said. He ran the back of his hand along Starfire's cheek mockingly. She glared bravely at him, not giving him the pleasure of seeing her disgust. "She will no doubt be here soon to save you all. Or at least attempt to. But if she were smart, she would stay away." His hand trailed across Starfire's chest in an attempt to provoke a reaction from her, but again she remained cold.

"You are most assuredly not my friend," Starfire said. "Beast Boy would never hurt his friends."

"Quite right. It's hard enough shutting him up now." The teen flicked his finger, extending a single feline claw and tracing the tip of it just above Starfire's top and beneath her neck. "If it means anything to you, he's the hardest possession I've had to maintain. He doesn't know what is going on, yet he feels that his friends are in danger and he fights. He must really care about these children."

"We are a family," Starfire said coldly. "That is why Raven will defeat you. She loves us all."

"...So you say." Beast Boy pressed hard into Starfire's neck, breaking the skin and drawing blood from the nail-sized wound. Starfire grimaced slightly from the sudden pain. Beast Boy drew his finger to his mouth and licked the traces of blood from it. He then flexed the finger, returning it to normal. "That would be surprising. Raven knows better than to trust people who claim to be her friends. One day, you'll leave her all alone, just like the people of Azarath did." He chuckled in amusement.

Starfire remembered her vision of the future – when the Titans battled a villain named Warp who could travel through time with a special suit. During that battle, Starfire traveled twenty years into the future and saw a dark, unfriendly world where her friends had grown distant from each other, and ended up totally alone and sad. Raven, in particular, had lost her sense of love and friendship because her trust in her friends had been betrayed. She'd been alone, and unable to experience happiness. It was one of the saddest things Starfire had ever seen in her young life.

And this villain thought it was amusing. 

Starfire growled angrily and shot a pair of star-lasers from her eyes, not carrying that this enemy looked like one of her beloved friends. The energy flashed right in front of her as it hit her target dead-on. The smoke from the attack cleared, revealing Beast Boy completely whole, his hand held up to intercept the attack. Considering the attack was less than two feet away and faster than the speed of sound, his reflexes were amazingly quick.

"You should be careful," Beast Boy taunted as he stood up. "This body is a loaner, after all." He chuckled and walked to the center of the group. Starfire noted with surprise that at this point, it looked like her friends were lined up in a pattern of some sort... like points in a circle or some other shape, surrounding the place where Beast Boy stood.

"The pentagram will be completed with this body," he said, extending a claw from his fingertip once again. "With five superhumans as sacrifices, I can ressurect myself and regain my true power." He drew the claw across Beast Boy's palm, drawing blood easily. He rubbed that blood against the floor, then moved to each unconscious Titan in turn and pricked a portion of their skin, only to transfer it into the center of the pentagram. When he reached Starfire, Beast Boy sat on her stomach and smiled at her. She glared angrily back at him just before he placed his hands on her neck and squeezed gently to draw another trickle of blood from her prior wound. He chuckled and walked over to place it in the center.

"Now, for the final touch." He began to say several words in a language that Starfire didn't understand. Five globes of red light flowed from the blood in the pentagram and floated up above Beast Boy's head. These five globes then sent magical lines of light between each other to form a smaller pentagram in the air. This pentagram grew and expanded before disappearing into the roof and merging with it. Now, there were two pentagrams vertically adjacent to each other, trading wisps of light as energy flowed back and forth.

"Now, we let it simmer for ten minutes or so," Beast Boy joked as he stepped aside to admire his handiwork. "When the pentagrams finish drawing energy from the city's evil underbelly, the ritual will sacrifice the five bodies bound to it in blood. My body will be reborn, and I will reduce this universe to ashes in celebration of my return to greatness."

"N~no!" Starfire growled. She struggled fiercely with her bonds, but no amount of struggling could free her. As the malevolent entity said, these ropes were beyond her ability to break.

"Sit back and relax," Beast Boy said with an evil smile. "Just be glad that you won't survive to see this world, when I'm through toying with it."

Starfire looked at the pentagram above as it shined like an aurora. _Raven... please hurry._

~~

Gross returned to the castle den and immediately plopped on one of the chairs in a lazy fashion. The fire warmed her spiritual body to the core, relieving her of the chill that filled it thanks to the cold rain caused by Raven's torment. The spirit lolled her head back and stared at the ceiling, thinking about what she'd told her "sister" and how much it had disturbed her.

** _You can't fall in love with him. And he can't fall in love with you. Because you're not the same as him. He's human, and you're not. **_

_** Deep inside... you don't feel a thing. You're a blank slate. A shadow. **_

_** I'd rather disappear into Father's evil than spend another day in that stuffy castle. I want out. **_

Out... she'd been out for less than an hour. But she loved the short time she'd been free to do what she wanted, with people who weren't merely reflections of her inner self. It was like a child first experiencing kindergarten with other children, after spending years playing with nothing but dolls and family members. It was a magical feeling to see something outside yourself. And it was all so... beautiful.

She wouldn't get to see it ever again, if Trigon had his way. Even if Raven subdued him somehow, she would just be stuck in this castle again. No matter which side won, she wouldn't get to see the outside world again. She was trapped.

Pain and Hatred had done the right thing to leave Raven's mind with Trigon. By helping him, they were sure to get their own bodies and serve Father in his conquests. They would have to destroy worlds upon worlds for him, but they would at least be free to do what they wanted. And they would get to meet lots of interesting people before they killed them. Gross would've gone with them... but she couldn't drop that feeling of concern festering inside her. She didn't want to leave without Raven and the other sisters.

"Raven is.... hurting," said a soft-spoken voice. Gross looked up (which brought her eyes lower since she was practically leaning off the seat arm). She saw an upside-down Timid clutching a book to her chest and shaking nervously as usual.

"Yeah, she's whining because she finally realizes the truth," Gross said, picking her nose and flicking the booger into the fire. "She understands why she can't ever have ol' B-boy."

Timid frowned at that. "What makes her... think so?"

"I reminded her of what she was." Gross flipped so that she was lying on her stomach and over the arm of her seat. "She's the daughter of the Devil. And she's a wizard that is not allowed to feel emotions for a reason. She's realizing that this is all her fault."

Timid walked over and sat on her knees beside the chair. "It isn't... it is our fault. We wished for this, not her."

"We are her, remember? She's spent so much time with "normal" people that she became self-conscious about her lack of feelings. When you try to "fit in", you'll always end up in trouble."

"I... wish I could help her," Timid said sadly, clutching her book even tighter. "I feel how sad she is..."

"She can't, feel, sad," Gross muttered.

"Then... what am I feeling?" Timid challenged.

Gross slowly folded her arms beneath her chin. "Look, mouse. You're what Raven would've been if she let herself feel sadness during her life. Raven is incapable of feeling sad, because she put all of that emotional energy into you. And while you're in this castle with the rest of us, Raven can't feel sad. Get it?"

"That's... not true," Timid said. "Raven is sad, right now. I know she is. And she has been happy even when our sister was here. And she's been brave, too."

"False emotions," Gross answered. "People can pretend to be happy, or brave, or sad. But that doesn't mean they are. People pretend to feel these things because they feel like they have to, or else they're weird. Raven's always been in denial. That's all."

Timid shook her head violently and shouted in protest. "No!" It was the loudest she'd ever been in her life – almost as loud as Starfire speaking normally. Timid opened her treasured memory book to a page marked BIRTHDAY. "See...?"

Gross looked at the page. There was a picture at the head of the page, playing a scene from Raven's viewpoint. It was her dark, lonely room, where she was performing a private séance to search for the soul of one David Forscheimer, who'd been killed in a gang fight and was the key witness to finding a villain trying to bring a drug called Soul to the city. As Raven searched with her mind, her eyes viewed nothing but the opposite wall in a dazed stare. Beneath the picture was a script of the words said in this scene, and who said them. Gross followed along with the picture's movie.

_** Playing... **_

"Happy Birth-day, to you... Happy Birth-day, to you... Happy Birth-day dear Ray-Ray..."

"Go away," Raven snapped to her door, where Beast Boy sang off-key to his heart's content. Raven reminded herself to reprimand Starfire for revealing her birth date to him.

"Ha~ppy Bi~rthday... to~oo... yo~oooou! AND MANY MORE!"

"Go, away," Raven said again through clenched teeth. "I'm busy."

"Too busy for german chocolate cake?"

Raven gasped gently at that. That was her favorite flavor. Again, he must've fished that information from Starfire. Or he had the best intuition in the world, which was highly unlikely given his supremely low-brow nature.

"...Make it quick," Raven muttered. She projected a thought to the door, unlocking it with a quick series of telekinetic button presses. The door slid open automatically, and Beast Boy sauntered in with two small servings of cake, each carrying a lit candle and some utensils. He strutted over to the bed where Raven was meditating, and tried to sit casually without dropping either cake. He managed to do so, but ended up looking like a fool.

"So you're a full-blown woman now, eh?" Beast Boy teased. "Four~teen years old. Wow!"

"... No big deal," Raven said. She picked up one of the plates and a fork to slowly eat her slice. "Just another year down the road towards death."

"Is that how you really feel?" Beast Boy frowned. "That's depressing even for you."

"If you only knew," she answered before taking a bite and savoring the taste of the german chocolate flavor before swallowing her piece. Visibly she was as calm as ever, but internally she felt wonderful as could be. "With the way my life is going... it's just a matter of time before I finally find peace in the grave."

Beast Boy eyed her skeptically. "You always get like this after you read your door jams."

"They're books, not door jams. And they're very informative."

"I don't care," Beast Boy said. "The fact of the matter is that you always read those books about philosophy and psychology and spiritualism and all that other crud, and it always gets you so depressed that even the nutcases down at your coffee shop think your dreary. That's why the joker with the black hair and the 'Everything's-pointless' line stopped hanging out with you."

Raven glowered at that comment. "My business with Jeffrey is none of your concern. And I can read what I want to read."

"That's fine, just take it with a pound of salt for crying out loud!" Beast Boy glowered. "Listen..." He suddenly put his cake aside and grabbed Raven's shoulders, pulling her face close to his so they were staring eye-to-eye. Raven was startled by the close contact enough to drop her cake onto his plate, leaving a messy mush behind.

"Now, repeat after me," he said. "I, am, happy."

"But, I'm not-" Raven started. Beast Boy put his finger on her lips to shut her up.

"Bull. Whenever we're playing our video games and you're reading your book, I can see you smiling. You act like everything irritates you, but deep down, you love to be here just like the rest of us."

Raven could tell from Beast Boy's eyes that he was adamant about this. It's as if her sadness was making him angry... or making him sad as well. Why did he feel that he had to correct it?

In any case, though... he was right. Living here in the Tower with the others made her happy. She just couldn't show it.

Beast Boy removed his finger from her lips. "Now, repeat after me. I, am, happy."

"I, am... happy." Raven heard the words coming from her mouth, but she couldn't believe that she'd said them. And in her heart, she felt a warmth that confirmed the truth of those words. She really was happy with her life. Even with everything that had happened to her, and would happen to her, she was happy now. And she wanted to be with her friends forever to keep it that way.

"Once more," Beast Boy said, still only an inch or two away from her face. Raven's body was nowhere near as tense as it was at the beginning though. Now, Raven was almost leaning into Beast Boy instead of freezing up like a scared raccoon.

"I, am, happy." Raven said the words with more conviction this time.

"Louder!" Beast Boy commanded.

"I am happy!" Raven shouted, caught up in the moment despite herself.

"Again!!"

"I am happy!"

"Now kiss me!" he yelled. Before she could react, Beast Boy leaned forward and planted a big one on the violet-eyed mystic with all the falsified passion of a cheap soap opera actor. Only a second into the kiss, Raven realized what she was doing and pushed him away with all her strength.

"BLAGH!" Raven snarled. She wiped her mouth and spat repeatedly as if she'd been kissed by a dog. "What the hell was that!!?"

"Happy Birthday!" Beast Boy teased. He turned into a kangaroo and hopped out the door at break-neck speed, deftly hopping over and under Raven's telekinetic blasts like a cartoon character avoiding a shotgun. Raven's door slid shut, but not before she blew a hole through it in her attempt to disable Beast Boy. The green goofball escaped completely unharmed.

Raven sat back in her bed and continued to wipe her mouth in disgust. Finally, she sat there and simply breathed her anger... or what she thought was anger. She hated the fact that Beast Boy had not only forced her to drop her Gothic demeanor, but managed to get a kiss from her as well.

But deep down, in that warm spot still inside her heart, she felt something else entirely. Raven felt that warmth in her lips, leftover from the brief contact with Beast Boy. She slowly reached up and touched her lips, to feel that warmth and remember it.

To Beast Boy it had been a joke. But to her, it was a sign of his devotion to his friends. He cared about her, as a fellow Titan, and as a human being.

Her life wasn't as bad as she'd thought.

** End Movie **

Gross shut the book slowly, stunned by what she'd seen. Was that really Raven she'd seen? She saw... she _felt_... what Raven was feeling during that event of her life. That memory book had forced her to see a side of Raven that she – nor the other negative spirits – had ever seen before. She'd seen Raven in her normal capacity, rather than as the domineering magician who kept all her emotions trapped in a cold and lonely castle.

"I think it's like... something Smart said." Timid's cheeks were blushing red from the heated scene she'd just watched. But she wasn't without sense. "Raven and Starfire are friends, but they are different. Starfire is an extro... extra... one of those people who can express emotions really easily. But Raven is purposely the opposite."

Gross looked down at Timid, surprised at what the meek little child was saying.

"Just because Raven isn't allowed to show her emotions... and just because she has to control them with magic and meditation... doesn't mean that she doesn't feel them," Timid said gently, trying not to speak boldly. "Raven has so many feelings... she just didn't want to show them. She didn't even know how, until we "joined" her in the real world. And because of us, the bad man escaped."

Gross frowned. "Timid..."

"So please don't be mad at her," she said in closing. "And don't say mean things to her like 'she isn't human'. Because she is. She's just... special." 

Timid's cheeks turned pinker as she thought of the green-eyed Titan who'd slept beside her in her period of turmoil the other night. "And I think that Beast Boy feels that, too."

Gross cradled the memory book and sadly ran a hand along its cover, titled by the date these series of memories were made. "Then... everything I said to her was... wrong?"

The thunder pealed as both spirits felt a strong presence suddenly enter the room. Timid and Gross looked at the entrance with a start to see Brave, standing there in a soaked robe and with a calm, yet dangerously annoyed expression on her face.

"What DID you say to her, exactly," she asked slowly. "'Dear' sister."

Gross gulped deeply. This wasn't going to be pretty.

~~

Raven perched atop an old, hollow cathedral trapped in the middle of a rundown portion of San Francisco's pre-renovation zone. Someday this holy place would be torn down in favor of yet another shopping mall, or more housing for the city's ever-growing population. But for now, it served as a symbol of hope and a haven from darkness for the poor, homeless wretches that population this area. It was a place for people, buildings, and memories that didn't belong anymore. That ambient feeling was what drew Raven here to think.

_She's right,_ Raven thought pitifully. _...I'm right. I'm not human. I never was._

Raven's weary head rolled against the worn cross of the lifeless cathedral. Raven had never been in a "real" church before – it didn't fit her Gothic lifestyle and certainly not her beliefs. But she'd always imagined that if she ever touched holy ground or saw a cross in a preacher's determined hands, she'd burn like a vampire did in those cheesy horror movies from long ago. She was one of Trigon's children, after all. She was a part of the cancer he sought to infect the universe with. She was evil.

Raven tried to cry. She wanted to cry, because she'd seen Starfire do it many times when she was really sad, or really happy. Either way, the emotion would go away after a "good cry". Raven wanted, more than anything, to get rid of these emotions that trapped her and doomed her friends. She didn't want to feel all this pain in her heart, and all the love that caused it. She just wanted to cry and make them all go away.

But nothing happened.

Raven sighed, and curled her legs beneath her robe as the clouds above roared with thunder and began their downpour. As the droplets of rain hit the earth and the buildings that covered it like a pox, Raven decided that this was the end of it all. There wasn't anything she could do to stop her father once he was free. So why bother trying?

_They probably... already know the truth now,_ Raven thought, remembering her friends._ They probably hate me for what I've done. I can't face them now. _Raven raised her head, her eyes closed as she struggled with her thoughts. _I'm all alone. And the world will die, just like... my home._

__Amongst all the raindrops that splattered on Raven's face, one lonely tear fell down her cheek. Raven focused on that single tear, and conjured up many more with her feelings of sadness. All the hopelessness and guilt she felt in her heart boiled to the surface as a few stray tears and short, fitful gasps. She let her feelings flow. There was no reason to hide them anymore.

_"So you're just going to sit there and cry?"_ Raven looked up to see a green-robed copy of herself, floating in front of her as an invisible, intangible presence. Brave's voice echoed in her mind as a telepathic thought with the force of her spirit behind it.

_"What else can I do?"_ Raven shot back. _"He's unstoppable. The only force that could stop him... died in the same battle. We're nothing."_

_"We've stopped him from escaping our mind once before,"_ Brave said. _"With the help of Cyborg and Beast Boy."_

_"That's different,"_ Raven said sadly. _"He wasn't 'free', then."_

_"So you're not even going to try?"_ Brave snapped.

_"Why bother,"_ Raven said, her shoulders sagging and her eyes staring at the distant earth below. It would be so easy to just let go of this cross and fall to the earth without stopping. That way, she wouldn't have to see her world die and her friends suffer because of her mistake. _"...There's nothing I can do. And my friends are sure to hate me now. They'll know that Trigon is here because of me."_

Brave's hand glowed with black light as she called on her own magical abilities, and she gave Raven a resounding backhand across the cheek. Raven nearly fell from the top of the cathedral from the force of the attack, but she managed to invoke her flying ability to keep herself from falling. She hovered in mid-air, rubbing her now-red cheek angrily.

_"Gross put the idea in your head that you're destined to be alone,"_ Brave said. _"Well get over it. Gross doesn't know jack about you. She's know better than you at realizing who you are."_

"And you think YOU do?" Raven growled, her eyes still brimming with tears despite anger being her dominant emotion now. "Without you and the others I'm nothing! Nothing! Beast Boy knew it and left me out to dry!"

_"Wrong on both counts, kid,"_ Brave said impudently. Raven gasped at her claim. She wasn't just saying it to win the argument – she really meant it.

_"How can you say that?"_ Raven said. _"It's true... I'm nothing without you guys. A blank slate, remember?"_

_"The person who coined that 'blank slate' term is you, not me,"_ Brave said. _"You say that you're nothing without us, but it's exactly the opposite. We couldn't exist today without all that emotion burning in your heart right now."_

Raven's eyes widened. "Wh... what?"

_"You're really stupid, you know that?"_ Brave slammed her verbally. _"You get annoyed when Cyborg forgets to make you tea. That's emotion. You get angry when Terra says a snide comment behind your back. That's emotion. You get goosebumps when Beast Boy hides from Robin behind your robe. THAT's emotion!"_

"B-but..." Raven stuttered.

_"Your magic separates you and your feelings, but that doesn't mean that you don't feel them. It's like a car with an engine that has no wires. Even though the car can't start and is dead to the world, that engine still burns with power. You have more emotion than Starfire and the other Titans put together. You just can't show it because your 'heartstrings' don't pull at your mind the same way theirs do."_

Raven slowly looked down at her hand, which she placed over her heart residing in her chest. "I... have that much... inside me?"

_"You do,"_ Brave said. _"Trigon feeds off of emotion, but only if it's _shown._ If it's sitting smack dab in the middle of your face. As long as your mind and your heart are separate like they're supposed to be, Trigon is weak. But that doesn't mean that your life lacks all feeling. You've known it all along, but you've been too short-sighted to admit it."_

Raven's lips curled into a small, almost invisible smile. It was the best she could manage. "Then, I really do care about Beast Boy? I'm not just using him?"

Brave smirked. _"You and Terra are pumping on all cylinders. The only difference is that you can't laugh at his jokes or smile at his comments. But you don't have to do all that to show your love for him. Like magic, love is invisible and all-powerful. It doesn't need to be seen to be known about."_

Raven felt her heart beating like a kettle drum. She felt like she was about to explode from all these bottled up feelings of joy. And at the same time, she couldn't believe that she was actually _feeling_ that joy in the first place. Her face was gentle, and she couldn't yell at the top of her lungs like Starfire would in the same situation. But it was there. And now, when it was at its strongest, could she really see it.

_"That's why Beast Boy is so popular with the ladies,"_ Brave said in conclusion. _"He may not be the suavest guy in the world. But he can see into your soul as if you were naked from the skin down. He knows how you feel Raven. He and all the other Titans. They're just waiting for you to realize that 'feeling' and 'showing' aren't the same thing. It's okay to be happy."_

Raven thought about all the times she'd watched her friends, from a distance, playing games and having fun. She always felt like she was an outsider. But that was only because she felt like she couldn't join in. She thought that if she did, Trigon would feed off of it, and escape. But Raven didn't have to isolate herself. She was allowed to be happy, in her own quiet way.

"I'm allowed, to be happy..." Raven said to herself.

_"Say the words,"_ Brave demanded. _"Say them like you mean them."_

Raven smiled. "I, am, happy! And I'm not going to let ANYONE take that away from me!"

Brave grinned back. _"Then let's go and kick Dad's ass."_ The spirit shot into Raven's body and joined her in the forefront as the other emotions had done before. Raven and Brave united into one and shared the reins. What was once a suppressed feeling of courage and conviction now overflowed into legendary determination. Raven was now fearless.

"I'm coming you guys!" she shouted into the night. Raven shot through the skies as lightning struck in the distance. She flew through the rain, her robe flapping like the cape of Superman himself. Raven was determined to win this fight, and not even the Devil Himself would stop her now.


	6. Four Minute Eulogy

Beast Boy leaned against a stack of unprocessed tiles left behind when the factory closed down long ago. He watched silently as his pentagram matrix drew on the evil energy in the city. The energy manifested as light that slithered along the ground like a snake. Droves of light migrated into the pentagrams at a steady rate. And four of the six Teen Titans lay within that pentagram, where they awaited their eventual destruction.

"Now that your blood is bound into the ritual, there's no need for you to be restrained," Beast Boy said with sadistic mirth. "I can release your body's bio-energy and use it with the ritual, no matter where you run too. But for now, I'll leave you where you are so that you don't try to stop me by killing this boy."

"We would never do that!" Starfire yelled.

Beast Boy smirked. "That's what I like about you costumed heroes. So noble, so trusting... and so easy to corrupt." Beast Boy glanced at Robin's motionless body. "And you can quit pretending to be unconscious, kid. No matter how many rope tricks you've learned in your life, they pale in comparison to magic."

Robin frowned, his back still turned away from Beast Boy. "It's only a matter of time before I get out of this and send you back where you came from."

"Hmm," he laughed. Beast Boy slowly waved his hand, and Robin's bindings gave way. He was free to move. "All you had to do was ask. After all... you're no threat. You have no special powers."

Robin growled and leapt to his feet, his birdarang drawn in an instant. He held it like a dagger and stood in a melee stance, but he didn't attack just yet. Robin's battle-hardened instincts told him that he was way out of his league here. Trigon had somehow infected Beast Boy's consciousness. Not only was Beast Boy under his control, but he now had magical powers that dwarfed even Raven's documented abilities. His reaction speed against Starfire's attack was faster than most super-speeders in the world. Robin would never get close enough to hit him, and even if he did it would be meaningless. If Starfire's starbolts had no effect on something as fragile as his hand, then what chance did his technology have?

Beast Boy watched Robin quietly, then bowed his head in thought. "I see. No wonder you're the leader of this team of orphans. You actually have a brain beneath all that spiky hair."

Robin slowly lowered his birdarang and holstered. "I've studied Raven's magic style with her permission. I've cataloged her physical and mental stress levels while performing it. Beast Boy may be easy to hypnotize, but even he can resist you. Your energy should be rapidly depleting, and your attention must be diverted many ways if you're controlling him and maintaining this ritual."

"You know _nothing_ about magic," Beast Boy said, his voice laced with a feral growl. "And you know even less about me. I am the angel that fell from heaven because _the man_ didn't love me as much as you pathetic humans. And quite frankly, I've had time to build up a grudge."

Robin frowned. They'd fought Trigon before – amusingly enough, when he erupted from a "zit" on Raven's face. That Trigon was pathetic. He could be reduced to nothing by simple chanting. But this Trigon was much different. He even claimed to be "the" Devil. And what's more, he wasn't even in Raven's body or her vicinity. Just how much strain did it put on Raven to contain this guy? How much power would she have if she didn't have to worry about entrapping her father's ghost?

"Not as much power as I have," Beast Boy smirked. Robin gasped lightly, making the possessed teenager chuckle. "Surprised? You shouldn't be. If you've studied Raven's magic as thoroughly as you claim, you should know my capabilities. Obviously, you're overestimating your studies. Raven hasn't revealed anything of import to you."

"Accept it, boy," Beast Boy said, his eyes intense and burning with hatred for all life. "Your pathetic 'God' tried to destroy me, and I dragged him to hell with me! What hope do you think you mortals have, even in the weakened state I have now! There is NO HOPE for you!!"

THOOM! The roof caved in as a massive force crashed through the fragile steel ceiling, sending support bars and paneling everywhere. A massive, black monster in the shape of a giant bird dove through the opening in the ceiling before flapping its wings in an emergency stop. The bird's four red eyes glared down at Beast Boy, who smirked knowingly at the creature.

"Daughter dearest has finally decided to join us."

The giant bird's body changed into raw magical energy, revealing Raven at the center of an aura of blackness that encompassed her like a shell. She landed on the ground, and the bird-shaped aura disappeared with a thundering boom. Raven stood between Robin and Beast Boy, her determination almost palpable.

"Raven!" Starfire cheered. "You are here!"

"Get out of here," Raven said without turning around. She straightened her arm with a jerk. At the same time, the ropes binding the Titans went limp and lost their power. Starfire quickly floated to freedom, while Robin went to remove the ropes from Cyborg and Terra, both of whom were still unconscious from the severe beating Beast Boy had given them.

"We cannot leave you alone," Starfire said, flying to her friends side and powering up her greenish energies. "This villain cannot be defeated unless we work as a team."

"If you use your starbolts, you'll only hurt Beast Boy," Raven said firmly. She stared at the her father's host, who smiled in amusement at her anger. "The same goes for the rest of you guys. If we attack physically, the only one who'll be hurt is Beast Boy."

"But... we cannot leave you alone," Starfire said sadly. "I want to help save my universe."

"Then pray." Raven clenched her fist, and her raven-shaped soulself erupted to life and sent waves of wind-whipping energy in all directions. "And put your faith in me."

Starfire blinked in surprise. Since when did Raven act so... dynamic. She was like a comic book hero... or one of the 'marines' that were advertised in the television commercials. Was this another facet of her personality? Starfire did not know, but she decided to take her words to heart. She would watch, and she would pray.

"Good luck, Raven," she whispered. Starfire floated back to help Robin gather her fallen allies. Raven and Beast Boy squared off in a staring contest. Raven's powers were going full throttle and were decidedly visible. Beast Boy remained calm and quiet.

"I guess this is the part where I say, "Impressive... her power level is soaring." But then again, I'm not all that impressed. I've killed thousands of angels with much more strength and a lot less bravado."

Raven thought of her magic words – the words that focused her thoughts, drove her spirit, and summarized her magical art. _Azarath, becomes, my weapon._

"Azarath, Metrion, Zinthos!" Raven's aura flared again as her power flowed freely like an erupting volcano. The raven spirit grew to its full size and gathered the energy for its powerful breath weapon. Beast Boy stood there and watched, seemingly amused by the display. When the spirit finally released its breath weapon, the green teenager finally acted.

He shouted a magical word. "Laephar!" Instantly, a giant cross made of black opal appeared in the path of the attack. A girl in a brown robe was sitting at the base of the cross on her knees, her face weighed down by ineffable sadness and hurt.

"Pain!" Raven cried. Instantly she threw one of her own telekinetic shields in the path of the attack. Her soulself's attack collided with the barrier and annihilated it after prolonged exposure, but none of the attack carried through to the cross or to the girl.

Beast Boy chuckled. "Recognize her? I'm sure you know by now that I brought a few friends with me when I left your mental prison. Pain here is completely autistic, making her an easy acquisition and a convenient source of magical energy. She's so pliant – she doesn't resist me at all. She's the perfect girl, don't you think?"

_That cross must be Pain's soulself,_ Raven realized. Raven knew that her sisters had magical abilities of their own, since they were segregated from her soul long enough to become self-aware. But she was still amazed that they could have their own soulselves as well. Gross had a succubus... Pain has this cross... what else did they have? And what kind of magic did they use?

"Amazing!" Starfire gasped from the sidelines. She cradled Terra as the girl woke up. "Raven is truly kicking the butt, yes?"

"Don't ask me," Cyborg said, already back on his feet after some helpful rebooting by Robin. "I don't know anything about magic."

Terra slowly opened her eyes. And the first thing she saw was Raven and Beast Boy standing in an open area of the tile factory, staring each other down. "Beast... Boy?" she said weakly.

"You already know that attacking me with your telekinetic powers won't do anything but kill this host," Beast Boy said. "But I bet you haven't thought about how much strain a psychic battle would put on this boy's mind. Even if I'm possessing him, his soul will be affected by this battle too."

"He will live," Raven said, almost coldly. "He's a lot stronger than you think."

"Yes, he might live," he replied. "But that doesn't change the fact that I have the advantage." Beast Boy held up one hand, all five fingers extended. "Just five more minutes. That's how long it will take for the ritual to draw the necessary energy and activate. Once that happens, I can return to my body and draw on my full power. And without this world's "God" protecting them, I'll fully dominate this planet and all its people. I'll turn everyone into demons with my seed and start my conquest of the infinite universes anew."

Raven controlled her anger. She knew that her anger would feed him if she revealed it, with her expression or with her spiritual disposition. She kept it in her heart and remembered what Brave said to her about her nature. Raven understood herself now, and she understood how much her friends – and Beast Boy – meant to her. And with that understanding came greater strength, with which she would send this monster back to hell.

"Pain, please come back with me," Raven said gently amidst the raging magic of her soulself. "Please don't help Him."

Pain remained still, lost in her own world. Her lips mumbled incoherently, and her eyes stared at the ground into nothingness. The girl's spirit was broken long ago from all the pain she'd been forced to feel in Raven's stead. Pain was a product of the negativity in Raven's life. And Raven now felt guilty for it.

"She can't hear you," Beast Boy confirmed. "She has no will anymore. Which makes it that much easier for me to control her, AND her magic." Beast Boy pointed a finger at Raven, and the blackened cross glowed with red light as it used a magical ability. Raven screamed in pain as her body was suddenly infused with indescribable anguish. Every nerve in her body was alive with torturous pain. She collapsed to one knee when the attack finally ended, leaving her breathless and cross-eyed from the intense feeling.

"Raven!" Cyborg yelled. He tried to run forward to help her, but a telekinetic bolt knocked him back with enough force to leave an indentation in his chest. Robin ran over to help him get back on his feet. They both looked over to see Beast Boy holding up his right hand, his palm facing the group and smoldering with black smoke.

"Stay out of this, boys and girls," he said softly, but menacingly. He slowly lowered his hand. "Father and daughter time is precious. You'll each get your turn to die."

Raven managed to get back on her feet. "If you kill me... you'll lose your link to this world."

"Maybe," Beast Boy chuckled. "But I never said I was going to kill you. A wise parent once told his children to 'waste not, want not'. Why waste a precious mortal by killing it when you can torture it for months, or even years?"

Raven had heard enough. She wanted him dead. The mystic sent a call throughout her mind for her sisters to help her in her time of need. If she was going to defeat Trigon, she would need every ounce of strength her body and her soul had to offer.

_"They're moving into position at the consciousness gate,"_ Brave said internally. _"In the mean time, I'll bring out my soulself to help you get past Pain." _

__Raven wordlessly agreed. She folded her arms and again shouted her magic words, "Azarath Metrion Zinthos!" A circle of bright green light appeared at her feet and erupted upwards. At the peak of the eruption, a man dressed in a knight's chain shirt and tunic jumped from seemingly nowhere. He landed in front of Raven gracefully and immediately drew a massive broadsword with one hand from his scabbard. He stood at the ready and assumed a swordsman's stance.

Cyborg cocked his head curiously. "Hey... doesn't that look sort of like someone I know?"

"I was just about to comment as well," the alien said. She looked at the spirit's short hair and facial features, then looked across the floor at Beast Boy. "It sort of looks like..."

"These spirits are creations of Raven's mind," Robin pointed out. "Maybe this spirit represents something for Raven."

Terra still lay in Star's lap, her eyes focusing on Raven now. "...Bravery..." she whispered softly. Starfire looked down to ask what she said, but Terra was so out of it that she figured it was nothing.

The knight rushed forward towards Beast Boy. Pain's head rose as if someone had pulled a puppet string tied to her scalp. The black cross zoomed sideways, leaving a blur behind as it intercepted the swordsman's charge. Brave's soulself slashed at the massive symbol, each strike bouncing off and doing no visible damage. Finally, Brave invoked one of her spirit's magical abilities. The spirit drew what looked like a leather bag from inside his tunic and threw it at the cross. The bag exploded open on contact and spread blinding dust in all directions. The swordsman and the lower half of the cross disappeared from view for a split second as the dust fell. When it cleared, the knight was gone.

Beast Boy smirked and held his hand up the moment the swordsman flashed into view. A unimaginably intense blast of hellfire engulfed the knight, barely a foot away from where Beast Boy stood. The hellfire continued to flow from his hand, incinerating the monster with each passing second. Finally, Raven's massive soulself gathered enough energy to attack with its dark breath. At that moment, Beast Boy cut off the fiery attack and swooped his other hand in an arc before him. The scorched body of the knight flung through the air and intercepted the breath weapon, protecting Beast Boy from harm and causing Raven to complete the destruction of the weakened knight.

"No!!" Robin shouted. But it was too late.

Raven buckled over as Brave screamed in her head from the intense pain of having her projection destroyed. Raven's nose bled and she felt a sharp pain in her head that made her stumble, almost knocking her down entirely. Beast Boy laughed loudly at Raven's pain, while the other Titans could do nothing but worry about their friend's condition.

"That must have hurt," Beast Boy said. "But not as much as this will hurt." He lifted his left hand like a conductor, and the black cross glowed again with red light. Another surge of intense pain enveloped Raven, making her scream even more. She fell to the ground, her body smoking from all that painful magic striking her in rapid succession. When her body didn't move, the others feared she was dead.

"You have four minutes," Beast Boy noted. He looked up at the giant raven spirit as it waited for another command from its owner. "She must still be alive if that thing is here. Impressive."

As Raven started to stand again, he continued. "But the more you fight me, the more time you waste. And the more you weaken yourself. There's no way you can beat me, daughter. I've been alive since before the dawn of man. I was there to witness man's birth beside God. Do you really think you stand a chance against me?"

"I'm not giving up!" Raven shouted, showing that Brave's influence was still there. "You can brag all you like, but when it comes down to it you're still able to die just like the rest of us! Humans and superheroes alike have to deal with death, and so do you Father!"

"Heh heh heh... you talk too much," Beast Boy smirked. "But then again, so did your mother. Even as I raped her, she talked too much. In any case, it made it more enjoyable for me... heh heh heh."

Raven couldn't restrain herself anymore. "Don't EVER talk about her!" She waved her hand and used what little of Brave's soulself remained to summon the massive broadsword the knight had used before. She then reached into her mind and metaphysically held the hand of one of her other sisters, begging her for help. Raven felt Gross' mind make contact with hers.

_"Real quickly,"_ Gross said as she called upon her magic. _"...I'm sorry for what I said. I... I doubt Robbie likes chicks who say things like that."_

Raven was a little surprised, but a little grateful at the same time. She shared a warm feeling of acceptance with her sister. _"I'm sure he doesn't."_

Suddenly, Gross' succubus spirit appeared beside Raven and her giant soulself. The succubus grabbed the broadsword created by Brave's remaining power and instantly flew into battle. The succubus shot over the cross with a quick, aerial zig-zag, then charged straight at Beast Boy. Once again he lifted his hand and called upon his hellfire to incinerate the succubus. But to his surprise, the spirit charged through it as if it were nothing!

"Yeah!" Robin cheered. "Get 'im Ray-ray!" On cue, the succubus slashed at Beast Boy with its giant broadsword and cut deeply into the spirit inside. There was no visible damage on the surface, but it was obvious that the possessing spirit was in pain.

Gross' succubus reared back for another hit, when Beast Boy telekinetically catapulted her back across the field. A quick flex of her wings saved the succubus from crashing into the wall. She resumed her charge as Raven's soulself powered up for another direct assault. This time, Raven kept a careful eye on Beast Boy's movements in anticipation of a counterattack. She wouldn't make the same mistake again.

"Alright! A two-pronged attack for the good guys!" Cyborg whooped.

"Don't celebrate just yet," Beast Boy growled. The moment the succubus passed him for a side-strike, he leapt into the air and transformed into what appeared to be a pterodactyl-sized dragon with the grotesque appearance of a demonic crocodile. 

"He changed shape!" Raven gasped. "He's using Beast Boy's powers too!"

"But that's not an animal," Starfire remarked from the sidelines.

"Trigon has corrupted Beast Boy," Raven realized. "Not only his spirit, but his body too."

Beast Boy swooped over Pain and her cross, but not without ordering them to counterattack the succubus. The black cross glowed red, and Gross' succubus was targeted by the painful attack which seared every nerve in the spirit's magical body. Raven felt the pain transfer to her sister, but only felt a little of the pain herself. She struggled to remain focused.

The demonic creature tried to pounce on Raven, but she quickly shielded herself with her soulself's wing. Beast Boy's ramming attack was deflected by the wing and gave the giant raven an opening for a free hit. The bird brought its breath weapon to bear and shot a rapid series of violet fireballs rather than one massive burst. The demon's legs bent in an unnatural fashion so that it was now able to run like an ostrich, and it folded its wings to facilitate the new mode of travel. Beast Boy ran and jumped over most of the attacks, but the last round of shots hit dead on. A flurry of dark fireballs slammed his side, knocking him to the ground with telekinetic force and crushing his spirit with each shot.

"Three minutes left! Then your friends will become fodder for the ritual!" Beast Boy shouted as he shifted shape into a cross between a green alien like the Martian Manhunter and a porcupine. The pin-covered demon "exploded" its upper layer of skin, as if it were a balloon that had been inflated too much. Pins flew in all directions and stabbed into anything they touched. Raven quickly shielded her friends with one wing of her giant raven, then shielded herself with the other. Pain's black cross instinctively moved into position to protect her, leaving Gross' succubus free to move again. But before it could react, the succubus was caught in the crossfire and was impaled by hundreds of these bullet-like pins. The spirit burst into magical debris, and Brave's sword fell towards the ground before stabbing into it.

Raven wordlessly called out to Gross. There was no answer. She called again, and again no answer came. Gross had completely vanished.

_"That attack wiped out her energy reserves,"_ Brave said grimly. _"Her spirit was destroyed along with her succubus. She... put too much of herself into it."_

Raven couldn't help but feel guilty. Gross must have tried to fight her hardest because of her. But because of that, she died along with her spirit. Raven felt tears in her eyes as her heart boiled with rage and the pain of loss. She'd lost a part of herself.

Beast Boy reverted to his mundane form as he motioned for Pain's cross to stand beside him. He smiled at Raven. "You should thank me. Negative spirits can cause trouble unless you do something about them."

"She was a part of me!" Raven said angrily. "I don't care how negative or positive she is! She's my 'sister'!" It was hard for Raven to tell whether she was the one saying that, or if it was Brave declaring her anguish. Both of them felt the pain of losing a part of themselves. And they both knew that they could be next.

"Mmm, mmm, mmm, you smell good when you're angry." Beast Boy inhaled deeply, taking in the odor of the battle and the magic around them. "I just love a good drama. So much negativity to feed off of."

_"...We have to calm down and think,"_ Brave said supportively. _"Yelling at him only makes him stronger still. And he enjoys our pain."_

Raven sensed the pentagram matrix nearby reaching its crescendo. Evil energy gathered from the city snaked its way into the matrix and stored all the energy her father would need to recreate his body and reunite his soul with it. If that happened, everything was for naught. He would be unstoppable. But this fight was showing her just how unstoppable he was even when weakened. She didn't think she could beat him, no matter how many of her sisters helped.

"Raven!"

The magician turned around. Terra was standing on her feet, a single line of blood running down her cheek from where Beast Boy pricked her before Raven arrived. Starfire was standing behind her, helping her stand since she still seemed to be in bad condition from her initial beating.

"We're here for you," Terra said firmly. "Don't forget that."

"Yes!" Starfire chimed in. "We are here to help you!"

"You bet we are!" Cyborg added. "We ain't letting nobody mess with our friends."

"You can count on us," Robin said. "Don't be afraid to ask."

Raven wished she could say something hopeful to them, to keep their morale up. But at this point, she wasn't sure there was a way to win. The matrix was building up with energy, and it was only minutes away from releasing Trigon's main body with the energy of her friends. And when he reunited with it, he would be unstoppable.

Suddenly, Raven realized something. It was only minutes before Trigon's main body would be remade. But then, he would have to reunite with it. And for that, he had to do the same thing he did to Beast Boy if he possessed him through her. Beast Boy would have to touch Trigon's main body.

Which meant that until that happened, Trigon's body was an empty shell with no power of its own. It was just a big target. But in order for it to be born, Trigon needed a lot of energy. That was what her friends were bound to the ritual for. How could she save them...

"You can do it Raven!" Terra cheered. The other Titans followed suit and rooted her on, hoping that their words would keep her spirits up. Raven stared across the battlefield at Beast Boy and smiled confidently. It was the same cocky smile that B.B. and Cyborg saw on their trip into Raven's mind, where they met Brave and the other spirits.

"You have two minutes left," Beast Boy grinned. "And with Pain at my side, you can't touch me. You've felt so much pain in your life, that she's stronger than any of your positive emotions. You can't beat me with them."

"Two minutes is too long a time to wait," Raven taunted. "So let's fast-forward a little bit." Raven crossed her arms over her chest, and her eyes glowed white like a burning star. "Azarath Metrion ZINTHOS!" She shouted the last word and released a pulse of magical power, which infused with her massive soulself and gave it an aura so bright that it blinded everyone in the room. The giant raven then flew up above Raven and entered the dual pentagrams before exploding into its component energies. Raven's magic infused with the pentagram matrix and brought the ritual to its immediate fruition. There was no sacrifice - no loss of life in order to provide spiritual power. It was nothing but Raven's untapped strength - the strength of a demonic demigod. 

A massive portal of red light erupted into being between the two pentagrams, right beside the other Teen Titans. They gazed in utter shock as Raven brought about the very thing she was supposed to be preventing!  
  
"This is NOT what we had in MIND!" Terra shouted.

"Trust me!" Raven yelled over the roar. "When you see Trigon's body, throw everything you've got at it. It may take a while, but you CAN destroy it! I'll keep him from uniting with it!"

"But... I thought we were supposed to die when this happened." Starfire said nervously.

"Don't think about that now!" Robin ordered. "Just follow the plan."

"You call THIS a plan!?" Cyborg squawked.

"It looks like a plan to me," Robin said, drawing three of his bombs from his belt and holding them like shurikens. "Teen Titans, get ready!"

_"I hope this idea is as good as it sounds,"_ Raven thought.

_"It's better than nothing,"_ Brave countered. _"Let's just hope it works."_

Beast Boy laughed loudly opposite of Raven. "You really are interesting, daughter. I must admit that I haven't had a child as amusing as you since Hitler. I never would have guessed that you'd summon my body yourself to save the lives of your friends. How wonderfully foolish."

Raven magically called out to Brave's sword, which was still impaled into the ground. She summoned it to her and grabbed the hilt when it flew its course. Raven stared coldly into the eyes of her enemy – into the eyes of the boy she loved. "Now, you just have to get by me, and you'll win. But I promise I won't make it easy."

Beast Boy laughed. "Very well. Then say good-bye to your WORLD!" He pointed at Raven, and Pain's soulself activated as it had many times before. It glowed red and sent out a wave of pain towards Raven. But before it could take effect, a massive force overwhelmed the attack and prevented it from reaching her. The wave of pain was countered by a wave of gentility.

_"Mouse!"_ Brave said, surprised. She and Raven felt Timid's presence at the edge of their consciousness. _"YOU did that!?"_

Timid tried to hide her embarrassment, which psychically projected to her sisters even though she didn't want it to. _"I-I... hope it's enough."_

_"That's unbelievable,"_ Brave said in awe. Pain's attack was completely neutralized, and the black cross' continued assault was being stopped as well. They were literally immune to the cross' attack now!

Beast Boy growled when he realized that this tactic wasn't working. He quickly dispelled Pain and her soulself, and then he changed into the crocodilian dragon again flew overhead. Raven commanded her soulself to reform and attack, which it did with startling speed. The giant, four-eyed raven smacked Beast Boy with its wing, telekinetically knocking it down to ground level. Raven then rushed forward and slashed at it with Brave's sword with all her might. Trigon's spirit received a deep gash that made Him roar in pain. Raven then "grabbed" Beast Boy telekinetically and threw him across the room into a rusted tiling machine, away from the portal where his body was manifesting. Raven walked slowly towards where He crashed, ready to cleave His soul to ribbons by hand if need be. She would have Beast Boy back, no matter what she had to do to get him back.

"It's coming through!" Robin shouted. He and the other Titans gawked as Trigon's head squeezed out of the portal, like a baby being born from a woman in labor. Tormented screams punctuated the "birth" from whatever hellish dimension the portal opened into. The head of Trigon poked out, and it looked up at the Titans with a blank, feral stare and its maw gaping open.

"That thing is alive!" Cyborg yelled.

"Devils are animalistic until they've reunited with their soul!" Raven yelled back as she sword-slashed at Beast Boy repeatedly. He dodged and ducked under the soul-killing weapon, using many different demonic forms to aid in his battle. "The body will fight back until Trigon reunites with it! But He's weak enough for you to kill if you destroy his entire body before it regenerates!"  
"It can _regenerate_ too!?" Cyborg shouted. "You've gotta be kidding. His head is already as big as a dump truck and we have to destroy the _whole thing_!"

"Who cares how big it is!" Terra said, her eyes glowing yellow as she made the earth rumble around her. "Just keep hitting it before its arms are free!" Starfire nodded in agreement and powered up her starbolts.

"Teen Titans, GO!!" Robin threw his three bombs at Trigon's face and leapt aside. The demon roared at the pain of the explosion, which was followed by a dual attack from Cyborg's sonic cannon and Starfire's starbolts. They both fired until they exhausted their immediate energy and stepped aside to recharge naturally. Terra used her geokinetic abilities and shot spikes from the ground into Trigon's head, impaling it in multiple points. Remarkably, the demon was alive even though the spot where its brain should be had over a dozen earthen spikes driven through it. Trigon's mouth opened wide, and a humongous blast of hellfire erupted from his maw. Terra quickly caused walls of earth to rise in succession as each wall was blown to bits by the hellfire attack. Finally, as it was about to reach where she stood, Starfire flew in and swept her out of harms way. The hellfire continued through the factory wall and exploded against a neighboring building, reducing it to ashes.

Elsewhere, Beast Boy tried to get past Raven by transforming into various fast forms, all of which Raven intercepted with well-timed magic attacks or her sword. Finally, when they were in an area that was relatively open, Raven utilized her sister Smart's magic and called upon the ultimate telekinetic shield. Smart's "Ego Shield" surrounded her and Beast Boy in an invisible, hazy barrier that isolated them from the rest of the factory. Raven and Smart were so strong when working together that even the possessed Beast Boy would have a hard time breaking out. But that also meant that Raven wouldn't be able to escape without lowering the shield. And she didn't plan on doing that until one of them was defeated.

"You can't win, daughter," Beast Boy said as he back up and stalked from side-to-side, like a panther waiting for the right moment to attack. "If you 'kill' me, I'll simply enter your body. I can do that because not only do you have some of my DNA in you, but you also carry some of my soul. You have the potential to be exactly what I am – a demonic god. All you have to do is give in to your hatred."

Raven slid a strand of hair back into place. "I already saw this movie. I won't go to the dark side."

"Joke all you like, but this will end with you on my side or on your knees!" Beast Boy changed shape into another demon – this one something like a giant maggot with a bony syringe for a prehensile tail. Raven blocked his blows with a telekinetic shield localized on her forearm, while attacking with Brave's spiritual sword. The sword had no physical form, but it clanked and clashed like a metal sword anytime it struck Trigon's soul. Trigon dodged under one of these strikes and shot its needle-tipped tail at Raven, but she managed to deflect it with her shield. The tail sputtered green juice from the tip, which turned the ground it touched into a tiny amoeboid with an aura of evil inside its tiny plasma body. It died off quickly, but it made Raven wonder just what her father was trying to inject her with.

"I'll return to my former greatness in one body or another," Beast Boy yelled. "If you insist on keeping me away from mine, then I'll just have to take YOURS!" With that, his tail slammed through Raven's shield and pierced her forearm like a long ice pick. Raven screamed at the sudden pain, then tried to yank it free. Before she could though, the syringe-like tip folded on itself so that it looked like a fish hook now. Raven's arm caught on the hook part when she tried to pull it free, which only solidified the hold that it had on her. Raven swung her sword at the tail, but Beast Boy rushed forward and caught her wrist with his clawed hands.

The demon looked at her evilly, his snaky tongue flicking in anticipation. "You've been caught, my dear. Once I put my venom inside of you... you'll be mine. And your dear friends will die by your own hands."

Raven's soulself erupted from her body and bit down, hard, on Beast Boy's demonic tail. The demon roared in pain as the super-spirit bit the tail in half, then wing-smacked him away from Raven. Raven collapsed to her knees and cradled her arm, which was still caught by the hooked tail and being filled by the disgusting venom her father spoke of. She couldn't pull it free, nor could she burn it away with her magic. But since it was pulled free of Beast Boy's body, it started to dissolve on its own into the same amoebic ooze that spewed from it before.

Beast Boy regrew the tail instantly. It was like a salamander who'd lost its tail, only the regeneration was much faster for this demon. Beast Boy hissed and laughed at the same time as it watched Raven pant from the venom in her system. Slowly but surely, it was infusing her soul with more and more of Trigon's evil.

Raven felt her worst nightmare coming to life. Her human appearance faded away and was replaced by the red skin and the four eyes associated with Trigon's species. Raven was no longer human.

She was a monster.


	7. The End

-----------------------  
The Watchtower  
-----------------------

The Martian Manhunter stared into the blackness of space and watched over the blue planet below. Earth was so beautiful from space, like Mars before its destruction. J'onn worried about this new planet. It was so fragile and so easy to damage irreparably. Humans were equally fragile. He wished that there was a way to protect them all from harm, but with so many dangerous elements in the world, that was simply impossible. Many times, there was nothing he could do but watch them suffer, because of the actions of their fellow man.

Something out there, however, was not human. And it sent feelings of despair across the planet's surface like a nuclear wash. J'onn felt these rhythmic pulses like a malevolent heartbeat that ensnared the planet. Each pulse appeared and disappeared in the blink of an eye, spreading a sourceless psychic message that could only be described as Evil. Even in his mind, shielded from all but the strongest telepaths in the universe, J'onn Jones felt a supernatural foreboding that frightened him to his very core.

"You feel it too," said a familiar female voice. Wonder Woman, amazoness heroine, walked to the window to join the martian in observing the landscape of Earth. "This blanket of darkness covering the planet."

"I have tried to feel its source," J'onn said somberly. "But when my mind touches the surface of this field, I hear screams of pain and suffering that drive me away. The planet is infused with evil, and I know not why or how. But whatever it is, it is beyond our comprehension."

"... This feeling of pure evil and despair comes from a supernatural being," Diana noted. "Perhaps even a god. Though it does not feel like any god I am familiar with."

"A god..." J'onn saw the planet shimmer with a red light. Blackness slowly spread over the planet's surface, blocking out the sun and eradicating any source of light save for those found on the surface itself. The stars, the sun, and the moon were blocked out from the Earth's perspective. From the Watchtower it could be seen that the Earth was now as black as space itself. 

Flash zipped into the room. "We've just lost contact with planet Earth. I can't get Supes, Bats, or even the government yahoos that keep bugging us."

"Then it has begun," J'onn said, slowly bowing his head. "The beginning of the end."

"...Hera protect us."

Flash scratched the side of his head. "Uh... aren't you guys being just a little dramatic here? It's just a blackout."

"If you could feel what we feel," Diana said, turning to face him, "you would not think we are exaggerating."

The Flash was silent. "If it's really that bad, we should fly down there and do something. That's our job, right?"

"I fear that nothing will be entering or leaving planet Earth until these events have run their course," J'onn said. "Not even light can penetrate the atmosphere now. And I believe that our ships and our friends are equally unable to breach this shell of darkness now."

"Then what do we do?"

Diana hugged herself out of worry for her people on Thymiscra. "...Pray."

~~

Trigon roared as his physical body struggled to free itself from the confining portal. The birthing process had continued steadily, with the devil's head appearing first and receiving the full brunt of the Titans' attacks. But as fast as they damaged it, it regenerated and expelled any foreign elements that could harm it. No amount of freezing, burning, vibrating, impaling, or pounding could permanently damage Trigon. And now, his upper body was out and was destroying the factory walls due to lack of space. The portal itself seemed to be shifting directions, until Trigon was vertical and moving upwards as He came into being. He looked like a genie without a lower half. But the parts of him that were created already were giving the Titans enough trouble as it was.

"HAA!!" Starfire gave everything she had and threw a storm of starbolts at Trigon's chest, hoping to weaken his heart or some other major organ. She didn't even know for sure if he _had_ organs like that though. All she knew is that she had to destroy this monster, before he destroyed the universe – including her beloved planet Tamaran and her people.

Cyborg followed Starfire's lead and blew hole after hole through Trigon's upper body, before finally disabling one of his arms, if only for a moment. Cyborg remembered his father and mother – both of them scientists at the same S.T.A.R. Lab that oversaw the Teen Titans. His mother had died because of an experiment that freed a creature like this one, only much smaller but no less vicious. Cyborg had almost died with his mother, but his father saw fit to encase him in this metal body to save his life. Cyborg never forgave his father for what happened that day, but he now was thankful that it _had_ happened. If it hadn't happened, Cyborg wouldn't be a Titan right now. And he wouldn't be able to help his friends.

Robin remember his life in Gotham City – a city where dreams were shattered every day thanks to punks with guns and super villains setting themselves up as warlords or kingpins. Robin spent his entire childhood learning how to fight the evil in his city, so that no child would ever have to suffer what he had to suffer. Robin knew in his heart that he would spend his entire life fighting the evil in the world, be it the mundane evil of an abusive husband or the supernatural evil he was fighting now. He couldn't let this be the end. The Titans would win – they had to.

Terra remembered Slade, the man who took her in after she fled from the Titans during their first encounter. Terra remembered the countless hours of torturous training she underwent to unlock the hidden power inside her. She remembered thinking of how strong and how relentless Slade was, and how she would so want to be like him. She knew he was a criminal – a super villain who disregarded the law. But when he told her privately about his past that day... about why he did what he did and why he tested the Titans with mundane villainy... she realized that he wasn't as evil as the others thought. And he wanted her to share in his mission, to help the Titans realize their true potential.

_This is just another step in that mission,_ Terra decided. She was afraid before that she was out of her league. But Slade taught her that no matter who you were, and no matter which side of the law you were on, there was always a way to achieve victory. Robin had learned this in his encounters with Slade. And Terra would live by that law too. She wouldn't be defeated! The other Titans had so much more to do with their lives, and Terra had so much more to do with Beast Boy.

Trigon roared mightily and summoned forth a massive, meteor-sized globe of hellfire. He called on his demonic powers and focused his energies, bringing incredible destructive potential to his fingertips. He then looked down at the pitiful children standing against him. His four eyes locked with Terra's eyes, and he decided that she would die first. Trigon threw his meteor of destruction at the tiny girl, and Terra gasped in fear. She couldn't block that!  
"Watch out!" Starfire called. She flew into the path of the flying meteor and literally pushed on it with all her might. The meteor spewed energy from its hind end like a rocket, while Starfire's star energy went into overdrive as she put every ounce of strength into stopping this attack. Terra animated a rock beneath her and two tablet-shaped slabs, then flew into position beside Starfire. Using the tablets as grips, Terra pushed on the meteor with Starfire and put her entire being into this moment.

"I cannot hold it much longer," Starfire said, ever polite and gentle even when fighting for her life. "You must move away!"

"I'm not going anywhere without you!" Terra yelled, her eyes burning like two suns. "You still have more to do!"

"What!?" Starfire said, confused. The meteor pushed forward, causing her and Terra to grunt under the strain of the impending release of the attack.

"We go together, or we DON'T GO AT ALL!" Terra clarified. With one final push, she and Starfire diverted the full force of the meteor, sending it flying through the ceiling and off towards the atmosphere, only to explode in orbit and send a shimmer of red across the darkened sky.

"We did it!" Starfire cheered. But her cheer was short lived. Trigon's eyes spewed four bolts of searing light and flew towards both girls like lasers. Starfire took the full force of two lasers, while Terra managed to block hers with her tablets and reduce the resulting damage considerably. Both girls fell through the air and landed on the ground with loud thuds. Terra's animated rocks crashed around her, coming within inches of crushing her instantly.

Robin used his power pole to vault onto Trigon's massive arm as it swung by. The Boy Wonder held on for dear life, then ran along the massive limb as it reached the end of its arc. Robin drew a gadget from his utility belt and armed himself with a flash bomb. 

The moment Trigon looked at the bug crawling up his arm, he fired his eye lasers and incinerated the portion of his arm where Robin was. Luckily, the hero leapt over the attack and avoided it completely. He threw his flash bomb first, blinding Trigon momentarily and giving Robin the opening he needed to attack with his other, more insidious gadget. Robin stabbed the gadget into Trigon's neck, then leapt into the air to swing to safety.

But the moment he fired his lifeline, Trigon snatched him in mid-air and trapped him in his grip. Robin struggled against the demon's grip, but His incredible size and strength made Robin feel like a giant crane was shutting its jaws around him.

Before Trigon could crush His prey, Robin pushed a button on his utility belt and activated the device on the devil's neck. A powerful shock injected itself into Trigon's spine (or whatever replaced it) and sent jolts of pain through His nerves. Trigon's body spasmed and twitched from the precision strike that stunned Him and damaged His senses. Robin dropped out of Trigon's grip as the devil opened its hands and lost control of its motor functions.

"Everybody, fire at his head!" Robin yelled as he landed. Only then did he noticed that Starfire and Terra were down. Quickly he ran over to Star and shook her awake. "Star, wake up!"

"Vorklor... unnh..." she whined, only half conscious.

"Star!" Trigon's hand came close to splatting them, but the aim was off thanks to Robin's device. Robin quickly threw Star over his shoulder, then called out to Cyborg, who was firing his sonic cannons at Trigon's face and dealing some major damage. "Grab Terra and get to safety!"

"I'm on it!" Cyborg said. He strafed the battlefield and fired his sonic cannon at the same time, each shot perfectly aimed thanks to Cy's targeting computer. Cyborg scooped up little Terra with one hand and threw her over his shoulder as he continued his assault. To his surprise, the giant devil seemed unable to regenerate his wounds now and was losing steam fast.

"What'd you do to him!?" Cyborg yelled out of curiosity as he joined Robin and the unconscious Starfire behind a wall of boxed tiles.

"It's a duplication of Slade's nano-virus that I've been working on. It disables the target and its special abilities with replicating nano-bots. But it won't work for long against him."

"So you got a follow up? We need to take out his whole body before he recovers."

"Not really. I was hoping you'd take your limiter off and finish him off all at once," Robin said.

"I can't do that! My power cell would be fried and my arm might go nuclear!"

"We don't have many options!" Robin yelled. "Please Cyborg, I'm begging you. Remove your limiter! It's the only chance we have of vaporizing this guy in one shot!"

Cyborg grumbled, but reluctantly agreed with Robin's logic. It really was the only way to deal enough damage to incinerate the devil with one attack. He lifted his arm and input a series of codes with a hidden keypad. The moment the code sequence was completed, Cyborg's body glowed as every LED panel maxed out. Cyborg's power cell bypassed his preset ampere limit by a factor of ten – more than enough to decimate anything that the Titans had come up against before. But it also had a much greater chance of annihilating Cyborg and everyone in a one-mile radius as well.

Cyborg's arm unfolded into its positronic cannon and hummed to life as he aimed. His targeting computer found the target instantly, then the computer calculated the exact timing and amplitude needed to obliterate the devil's visible body – more than 70% of its total self if its size remained constant. Cyborg's feet released clamps that held him securely to the ground, so that the backlash of the attack wouldn't knock him into the wall like a bullet. The cannon started to smoke from its output, but Cyborg still didn't fire.

"Come on!" Robin cried as he pulled Starfire and Terra to a large indentation in the ground from a prior blast. "Hurry!"

"Cover your ears! It's sonic boom time," Cyborg said. Internally, he pulled the trigger.

In bullet time, one could see the full force of Cyborg's attack in perfect clarity. An initial wave of sonic force erupted from Cyborg's cannon in all directions in a spherical path. The sound was so intense that every obstacle within shouting distance shattered instantly. Robin gritted his teeth as the sonic wave passed over the ditch he and the unconscious girls were in. After this spherical wave was the actual positronic explosion, which flew from Cyborg's cannon as a continuous wave of pure, focused energy. The wave's initial crest was more than twenty feet high. The force was so chaotic and powerful that the front half of Cyborg's cannon arm shattered from its intensity. Only the positronic generator remained, milliseconds into the attack.

The positronic wave grew wider as it traveled through the air, obliterating anything in its path and anything caught in the pulsing sound waves that followed it. When the attack finally connected, the wave was taller and wider than Trigon himself. The devil's howl was overwhelmed by the boom of the attack. Trigon's body burned away slowly and steadily as the raw force of Cyborg's cannon incinerated the demonic monster in one devastating assault.

Finally, when the devil had completely vanished, Cyborg's power cell exploded in his back and knocked him to the ground, ending the attack instantly. Cyborg's body smoked from the intense heat generated by his unlimited power usage.

"Cyborg!" Robin rushed out of the hole to where his friend lay. He couldn't live with himself if Cyborg malfunctioned completely because of this. Robin's desperate order might have killed the best friend he ever had.

Cyborg's backup systems slowly came online, giving him about half an hour of minimal power usage. Cyborg lifted his head with effort, then smiled weakly. "Boo yah."

Robin breathed a deep sigh of relief. "Way to go, Tinman."

"You bet, Soul Brotha." They bopped fists slowly, showing their brotherly affection for each other in their usual masculine manner.

Robin lent Cyborg a shoulder as the teenager stood up with effort. They both surveyed the scene. What once was a mostly-intact roof and wall were now piles of ash, extending for almost a hundred meters straight ahead. Not only was Trigon gone, but the pentagrams and the portal growing with him were nowhere to be found. Not to mention the dilapidated buildings outside of the factory. Cyborg had quite literally annihilated his target and everything behind it.

"Now I see why you keep that limiter on," Robin smirked. "There's no way I can compete with that."

"Now you know," he smiled weakly. He tried to walk, but his leg gave out thanks to a hiccup in his power distribution. Robin trembled underneath the weight of his metallic companion, but managed to hold him up. Slowly, Robin and Cyborg shambled towards the ditch where the girls were resting. Everyone was pretty much spent. Thankfully, the battle seemed to be over.

"Where do you think you're going?" said a sultry feminine voice.

Robin and Cyborg looked over their shoulders. A four-eyed demon with red skin and dirty white hair stood only a few meters away. Her body was noticeably feminine. She was clothed in a black leotard peppered with claw-like gashes, and her body was draped by a set of black, leather, and flesh-laced wings that flowed over her body like a cloak. She smiled with a toothy, canine maw at the heroes.

"Raven!" Robin gasped. "No... it can't be!"

"Sorry to disappoint you, kid," said the inhuman girl. "But I'm not done with this planet yet. Thanks to Raven's foolishness, I have a body that will work just as well as my original... at least for a little while. That'll give me enough time to wipe you insects out and repeat my ressurection."

"You let her go!" Cyborg yelled, turning around and standing like he wanted to fight. With his LED's flickering off and on, it was obvious that Cyborg was in no condition to fight. His arm wasn't even completely intact.

"How cute," the demon said. "Let's see how tough you are." Raven straightened her arm and opened her palm, sending out a powerful telekinetic blast that knocked Cyborg through the factory wall more than thirty meters away. Robin yelled his friend's name, but it was obvious from Cyborg's motionlessness that he was out for the count.

"RRAGH!" Robin charged and threw a punch at Raven, who swiftly dodged to the side. Robin continued with another rapid series of punches and kicks, each one hitting nothing but air. Finally, Raven slipped behind the boy and trapped his arms behind his back.

"I've won," the she-devil declared. "My power inside that 'Beast Boy' of yours was nothing compared to my power in this body. Raven and I are the same... she just needed a little nudge to finally grow up and make her Daddy proud."

Robin struggled to break free, but his strength was nothing compared to the demon's power. The demonic Raven grew bored with him and decided to end it. She grabbed Robin's head with a strangle hold, then pulled her arms in opposite directions and forced Robin's neck to turn in an unnatural manner. With several loud CRACK's, Robin's neck broke and killed him almost instantly. Robin fell forward and landed face-first with a thud.

"...See you in Hell, kid." Raven walked towards the open area where Trigon's pentagrams were before, then reactivated them with a wave of her hand. Raven lifted her hands into the sky and fed the pentagrams with her own incredible power. The portal opened again almost instantly, and Trigon's body reformed from the pits of Hell. Slowly, the head poked out of the portal as it had done before. But this time, there were no Titans around to stop it.

"Soon, this world will die," the demon declared to the skies above. "And I will destroy every universe created in YOUR image! You hear me!!" The demon laughed loudly as Trigon's new body appeared steadily. Soon, it would be ready for integration.

A gentle hand touched Robin's neck, waking the boy after a few moments of healing. Robin opened his eyes with a start, but the healer covered his mouth to keep him from making a noise. Robin looked up, and saw Beast Boy smiling at him as if he'd played one of his practical jokes.

Beast Boy brought a finger to his lips. Robin nodded in agreement. He sat up slowly, surprised that his neck was regenerated and functional again. He'd been dead... at least his body had. It would've taken a few more minutes for his mind to fully die. Raven could have healed him, but how did Beast Boy do it? Since when did he possess magic?

The demonic Raven continued reviving Trigon's body without a care. She seemed to enraptured by her imminent victory and wasn't paying attention to the remaining Titans. Robin and Beast Boy slid into the ditch as silently as possible, where Terra and Starfire were just starting to wake up.

"Rob-!" Starfire half-shouted, before Robin covered her mouth. Starfire looked like she had been crying. Perhaps she had seen or heard what had happened only moments before. She slowly reached out and touched his face, as if to confirm that he was actually there. Robin smiled gently, then indicated with his finger and lips that Starfire should be silent. She nodded slowly. She was still stunned by this miracle, but she kept her emotions under control with some effort.

"There is only one chance left," Beast Boy whispered, enunciating each word carefully. "We must enter Raven's mind and free her from Trigon's possession. If we can do this before the ritual is complete, then we may still have a chance."

"What happened to Raven?" Terra asked. "And what happened to you! How did you break free of Trigon's control."

"Beast Boy did not break free," he said, with an almost feminine tone. The others gasped at the third-person reference. Beast Boy shh'ed them again, then put a hand over his heart. "Trigon took control of Raven through his magical attacks. When that happened, he left Beast Boy's body. When Raven realized what was happening, she did the only thing she could do. She put me inside Beast Boy to spare us from Trigon's invasion." Beast Boy looked sad and bowed his head, almost like he was about to cry. "But all my sisters.... they're gone...."

"Then you're one of the other Raven's?" Terra whispered. 

Beast Boy wiped his eyes, sniffed, and nodded. "Your friend is spiritually drained, on the verge of death. He wouldn't be able to move if not for my possession. But... he is glad that you are all safe."

"You said we have to enter Raven's mind," Robin said. "How do we do that?"

"I can use a meditation chant to bring one of you into Raven's mind through our connection," Beast Boy said. "Though we cannot follow you, lest you lose your only path back to your body. One of you will have to psychically interact with Raven's mind world, and somehow free her from Trigon's control. Or more preferably, seal Trigon's soul once again."

"But we are unfamiliar with Raven's mind," Starfire said. "It is Cyborg and Beast Boy who have seen the mind world. And they are not here."

"We don't have time to debate this," Robin said, peeking over the edge of the ditch to see Raven's progress. Trigon's body was almost half-way out of the portal again. "At this rate, Trigon will be unified with himself in five or six minutes."

"I'll go," Terra said. Robin and Starfire looked at her in surprise.

"It's better if I go," Robin said. "I'm better trained for single-man operations."

"In someone else's _head_?" Terra snapped. Beast Boy and Starfire shh'ed her, making her cringe lightly.

"It is best if someone who knows Raven well goes in to help her," Beast Boy said. "I would recommend that Ms. Starfire go, but I fear she will have the most difficulty navigating Raven's mind. It is easy to be distracted there."

"I am not easily distracted," Starfire said in her defense. Robin shook his head in disagreement, making the redhead pout silently.

"Please, let me do it!" Terra said forcefully. "If this doesn't work... I want to be with her when it all ends. So that I can apologize... for some of the things I've said."

_** "Well... the whole point of this is to find the real you, and then be her. I was just wondering if the real you would... end up liking someone else. I can't really hate the real you, because you'll be a lot different from who you are now. We won't be at odds anymore." **_

_** "I'm trying to make peace with you..." **_

_** "We've had problems from day one because you're a heartless goth who enjoys teasing my boyfriend with your 'I-like-you-but-I-don't-have-a-heart-woe-is-me' bit. The truth is that you don't deserve his attention, and I'm sick of competing with someone whose not a real person. You're just a ghost that needs to be ignored – a shadow." **_

_** "I hope you fail to find your true self." **_

Terra frowned sadly. "I don't want us to die being enemies." She knew in her heart that had a double meaning. She wanted her friends to know the truth about her loyalties. But she knew that now was not the time to say it. They wouldn't understand why she believed in Slade's mission. Not yet.

"...Alright," Robin said. Terra looked up at him. "If that's how you feel about it, then go. Help Raven and do your best."

"We will await your return," Starfire whispered, still optimistic even with the apocalypse only minutes away. "Please bring our Raven back to us."

"Pigeon is strong, but she needs her friends to truly shine," Beast Boy said. "I am sure you two will figure out some way to stave off the universe's destruction. I'm begging you... help my Pigeon."

For a moment, Terra felt like it was Beast Boy saying that instead of the spirit. She knew that was not the case, by the spirit's own explanation, but it still saddened her to hear Beast Boy calling Raven by a pet name. It made her feel like she'd been forgotten.

"I hope so," Terra said softly. "Let's do it."

Beast Boy put a gentle hand on Terra's forehead. For a moment, Terra forgot that it was Raven's other self behind those beautiful eyes looking at her. Terra smiled back, and closed her eyes in anticipation of what was to come.

"Azarath, Metrion, Zinthos." The silent chant was the last thing Terra heard. She felt her "self" flowing out of her body. A moment later, Terra's body fell unconscious into Beast Boy's lap. She seemed to be comatose and breathing lightly.

"Now, all we can do is wait." Beast Boy said. He closed his eyes and passed out as well, the spirit relinquishing control of the boy's body to keep from overexerting it. Beast Boy and Terra slept beside each other, neither one of them able to feel the other's presence. They were so close, and yet so far apart.

~~

Terra suddenly found herself standing in the middle of an old dirt road underneath a moonlit sky. Normally she would've felt right at home, since she'd seen many dirt roads and moonlit nights on her journeys. But this world was quite different than the normal one. The moon was red instead of pale white, and the road itself seemed to be covered in maggots, spiders, and centipedes. The average person might be terrified of such creepy crawlies, but for a girl that slept in dank caves and lived on her own for months on end, these were nothing special. Terra brushed the bugs off her feet casually and looked around.

_A castle,_ she noted. At the end of the dirt road was a large, gloomy castle that seemed to be cut and pasted from a horror movie. Red bolts of lightning struck the towers of the castle and filled every horizon with bright red flashes, punctuated by thunderclaps that seemed to wash over the entire countryside like a typhoon wave. Terra quickly ran to the castle and made her way to the door, which was sealed shut and covered in still more insects. Each insect seemed unreal and carried a general aura of eeriness. It was like they had some sort of inherent evil in them, like Trigon did.

"If that's the best you've got Pops, you're not going to stop me." Terra brushed the insects aside and pushed the door open with some effort, then let it shut behind her. The inside of the castle looked predictable enough, with more creepy crawlies swarming on the walls and floors. It seemed like they were eating the masonry and infecting the environment with their evil. The rest of Raven's mind was probably infected already, but this castle seemed to be resisting the transformation. Perhaps it was Raven's final haven for her sanity.

"Ra~ven!" Terra called. Her voice echoed down the hall to the main chamber, which branched into several other chambers. Terra walked down the hall and found many other doorways and tower stairs that she could take. It would take too long for her to search them all.

"Ra~ven!!" Terra yelled louder. Her voice echoed back and forth. But still she received no response.

_This'll take forever – and I've got like four minutes left._ Terra decided to try one of the new tricks that she'd been working on with Slade. He explained that Terra's abilities give her a psychic link to the very earth itself. That meant that, conceivably, if she could move the earth in a telekinetic manner, she might be able to _listen_ to the earth in a telepathic manner too. Terra had been practicing this ability in private for some time, and now was the time to use its full potential.

Terra closed her eyes and extended her right hand, listening to the earth below her. Her hand and her feet shed a golden light as she bonded her heart and her mind with the stone around her. She felt the pulsing of the earth around her, and felt the very structure of it down to her core. She paused, and prompted the earth with a basic question. Where was Raven?

Terra felt a gentle nudge in a specific direction, and she followed this nudging. With her eyes closed, Terra walked to one of the stairways, then climbed down them without missing a step or stumbling blindly in the darkness. Terra guided herself with the stone, and eventually reached a lower floor designed in the manner of an ancient dungeon. Terra slowly opened her eyes, and saw Raven meditating in one of the prison cells.

"Raven!" Terra rushed over and tried to open the cell, but it wouldn't budge. "Raven, what're you doing here! Let's go!"

"My father has infected the rest of my mind," Raven said, slowly opened her eyes. "It won't be long before he destroys this place as well. By then, his body will be complete and he'll unite with it."

"We've still got time to stop him! Help me think of something!" Terra finally used her geokinetic abilities to shatter the portion of the stone walls holding the cell's cage. She stepped aside and let the cage fall forward, then joined Raven in the cell. "Come on! There's gotta be something we can do!"

"...There's nothing we can do," Raven said sadly. "It's too late to stop him."

Terra grabbed Raven's robe and dragged her to her feet. "Don't talk like this is the end, because it's NOT!! I'm not going to let you save Beast Boy's life and then let it all go to waste!"

Raven gasped lightly and looked into Terra's eyes. "Then he's safe? He's alive?"

"For now," Terra said firmly. "Your sister helped me get here. She said that the two of us might be able to do something. The others are putting all their faith into the two of us."

Raven frowned deeply. "But... I don't know what to do."

Terra heard a massive slithering noise in the stairway. A horde of the evil insects were eating their way into the stone masonry and infusing it with darkness. The castle's coloring was slowly changing from a stony gray into solid black. It wouldn't be long before the room they were in was fully converted, and them with it.

"You said that your father had a connection to this world. If we can sever that connection, all this will end, right?"

"Yeah, but breaking his astral cord is impossible now. He's too strong. He's taken all of my magic."

"Then I'll break it!!" Terra shouted in a panicked tone. "Just tell me what to do and I'll tear it to pieces!"

Raven thought of Beast Boy and his smiling face – that face that had given her strength on the darkest nights of her life as a superhero. She never would have imagined that one day, her heart and soul would belong to a man. Raven was certain that she was destined to be alone to lead a life of unhappiness. But because of Beast Boy, that all changed. Now, she knew the truth of her life, and she loved him for revealing it to her. Over the months and the years, he'd taught her the meaning of life without even knowing it. And now, because of Trigon, he would die with the rest of her world.

She couldn't let that happen. No matter what.

"...There might be a way," Raven said. "To sever his connection."

"What is it then!?" Terra asked. The walls were changing into darkness around them.

"You have to kill me."

Terra's heart skipped a beat. "Wh-wha...?"

"Kill me," Raven said. "I'm the link between Hell and Earth for him. If my spirit dies, then he has no way to interact with the physical world. That's the only way to cut his astral cord in time!"

Terra couldn't believe what she was hearing. Raven was going to commit suicide! Even in her angriest moments, Terra never really wanted to hurt Raven. They fought, and they were at odds more often than not, but Raven was still a teenager just like her. They had an understanding. It was almost friendship. Even though she worked for Slade, she couldn't forget that connection they shared.

"I can't," Terra said.

"You have to!" Raven yelled. She grabbed Terra's wrist and pointed her hand towards the ground. "Drive a spike through my heart! The psychic damage should be enough to-!"

"I CAN'T!" Terra shouted, pushing Raven away. The ground beneath her went black from Trigon's invading evil. "There's just got to be another way!"

"I can't kill myself without my magic!" Raven cried. "Please, do it!"

"NO!!"

Raven tried not to cry, although she was on the verge of tears from thinking about what she had to do. She had to give up her life, to keep her reason for living alive. The only way to defeat the evil that she'd unleashed was the only thing she wasn't willing to do. But she had to do it, to keep Beast Boy and her friends alive.

"I don't want any of you to die," Raven managed to say. She looked into Terra's eyes with more emotion than she'd ever dared to show. Terra mirrored her feelings – she was crying because of her indecision. There wasn't much time left, and the only one who knew anything about what was going on was demanding her own execution. Terra felt so powerless.

"Raven," Terra whimpered. "I hate you.... I hate you...!"

Raven smiled softly. She understood Terra's feelings, even though only a few words passed between them. She and Terra were more alike than she ever realized. Stubborn... emotional... and opinionated on the things that mattered to them. No wonder they fought so much, yet fell in love with the same boy. In another life, they could've been sisters.

The room was entirely black now thanks to the blanket of insects covering everything. The insects started to snake their way up each girl's body, attacking their psychic manifestations as if they were the real things. Each minuscule bite took a portion of the girl's body away. Slowly but surely, their souls were being corrupted and enslaved by Trigon. There was no time left.

"I hate you," Terra said again, her eyes in tears. She lifted her hand and prepared to control the earth beneath them.

"No matter whose side you're on," Raven said. "I trust you'll take care of Beast Boy for me. Give him the love he needs."

Terra was surprised by Raven's comment – she knew her secret. Whether she knew before all this happened or only recently thanks to Trigon, Terra didn't know. But she was glad to know that Raven trusted her, even though she wasn't one of them. It comforted her more than she could say.

Terra nodded once, then jerked her arm in an arc. A stone spike shot from the wall behind Raven and pierced her heart with ease. Raven gasped painfully, her eyes widening from the sudden loss of breath. Raven's face slowly sagged, her lips curled into a smile. Then with one final gasp, she went limp.

In that moment, Terra felt the world around her explode. Nuclear fire devastated the landscape, representing the sudden loss of consciousness in Raven's mind world. Terra felt her body catapulting across space and time to God-knew-where. For as long as she could manage, she watched the castle where Raven was. The last thing she saw was it collapsing into the "earth" into a massive fissure.

_I'm sorry... for everything,_ Terra thought sadly. Her mind disappeared into the realm of unconsciousness as the world around her dissolved into nothingness.

~~

The demonic Raven roared and screamed as if in great pain. The massive Trigon body did the same. Robin jumped from the Titans' hiding place to see what was going on. For a moment, terror overtook him as he saw that Trigon's body was completely free of the portal and hovering above the factory floor. But now, it seemed that the body itself was separating into its magical components!

"He's disappearing!" Robin cheered. "He's disappearing!! They did it!!"

"NOOOO~OOO!!" The demonic Raven howled into the sky. From the base of her body upward, she started to lose her demonic consistency and returned to her normal appearance. The moment the demon's head changed into Raven's normal self, she fell to the ground like a rag doll. Trigon's spirit flew from it as a red cloud of hatred and tried to reach its disintegrating body. But as quickly as His body faded away, so did His spirit. Like wisps of smoke in the wind, Trigon's body and spirit both disappeared without a trace. His howls echoed throughout the factory for a few moments more, until there was nothing left but dead silence.

The sky started to brighten. The darkness and the raging thunderstorms that arose during their battle faded away as quickly as they came. The sun pierced the morning sky and drove away the clouds, leaving nothing but a beautiful San Francisco morning. It was all over.

"They have done it!" Starfire cheered. She glomped Robin in the most crushing glomp ever made. Robin's neck almost broke again, until Starfire loosened up a bit and resorted to holding him and swinging him around like a teddy bear. "The world is saved!"

"Star... please..." Robin gasped. Finally, Starfire bashfully put him down and apologized.

"I shall attend to Cyborg," Starfire decided, already flying that way. "I hope that he is alright." When she found him across the factory in a pile of rubble, she noted the comical swirly eyes replacing his red LED and his normal eye. "Oh, he is merely 'O.K.'ed like the boxers on the ESPN."

Robin rushed over to where Raven lay. He rolled her onto her back and checked her for breathing. When he didn't find anything, he checked her pulse. He checked it for a several seconds, making sure he wasn't hallucinating. But no matter how long he waited, he didn't feel a heartbeat. She was lifeless.

"Raven..." he muttered sadly. He looked down at the girl who'd helped him train and prepare the other Titans for the life of crime-fighting. She was like a sister to him – someone he could always trust to be there when he needed help, or a second opinion. But now, she wasn't there.

Starfire placed Cyborg next to Terra and Beast Boy in the ditch, then flew over to where the boy knelt. When she saw his head bowed, Starfire became concerned. "Robin...?"

Robin's shoulders trembled. He kept his tears in check, just like his father and his 'guardian' had taught him to do by example. A man couldn't cry when these things happened. He had to be strong for the others. Robin did his best, but he couldn't hide his feelings from Starfire. She saw him trembling, and she knew that something bad had happened. And then she put two and two together.

"NO!" Starfire rushed over and grabbed Raven, lifting her so that Star's ear was over her chest. When she heard nothing, she 'gently' shook Raven. "NO! NO!! Raven, no!!" She shook the girl, as if doing so would change the situation and keep her dearest friend from lying still. But no amount of shaking helped. Finally, Starfire simply lay on the corpse and wept openly, her loud gasps stabbing Robin's heart like a knife.

"Star..." he said, trying to console her. But no words of consolation came out. All he could do was put a hand on her shoulder. Starfire sat up and grabbed him, crying into his chest. Robin held her and gently patted her head. "Star, don't cry..." His words fell on deaf ears.

They mourned by the body by themselves. Neither of them could think of what to say to the others. But by the time the paramedics arrived at the scene, the other Titans knew what had happened. And they all shared the same mournful tears.

~~

_** A video camera turns on, showing Raven sitting uncomfortably in a chair inside the living room of Titans Tower. The camera shifts back and forth as the man behind it tries to find the proper angle. Raven waits impatiently. **_

_MAN: "Okay, this is the updated video tape of the last will and testament for, uh... *paper rustling*... 'Raven', right?"_

_RAVEN: "...Yes."_

_MAN: "Sorry, I know it's kinda depressing to be making these things every month, but S.T.A.R. Labs insists that every Titan have a video will in the event a member meets an untimely end. Not that that would ever happen. You guys are the toughest kids I've ever seen."_

_RAVEN: "Can we move this along?"_

_MAN: *clears throat* "Alright. I'm going to leave the room now. Say the stuff you need to say, then push the OFF button and come get me. Then you can be on your way."_

_RAVEN: "Fine."_

_MAN: "Right, I'll just... go now." *walks off towards the camera's left. Raven watches him leave, then there's the sound of a door sliding shut. Raven turns to face the camera again.*_

_RAVEN: "...Hey guys. I, uh... guess I'm dead. I don't know why the lab insists we do these stupid things, but I have to do it if I want my allowance for the month. Can't buy books with wit, sadly."_

** A "real" scene showing a preacher of a local San Francisco church. There is a massive gathering of people from every corner of the city. They are attending the funeral of a Teen Titan lost in the most recent battle against evil. The Titans themselves stand in black funeral clothes in the church. An open casket with Raven's body lays between them an the altar, where a preacher says a prayer for the dead. "With the Lord as my shepherd, I shall know no fear. With Him as my guide, I shall not die. I join Him in Heaven with eternal life... and I bask in His glory." **

_"I don't know what I want to say... so I'll just say what I think about you guys. If I'm gone, then... I guess it's okay if I'm frank with you. No reason to hide my feelings anymore." *Raven adjusts in her seat as she thinks.*_

_"Cyborg... why don't you have a girlfriend yet? You're obviously a nice guy. Stop hanging around with Robin and Beast Boy, and take some girl at the burger shack for a spin in your 'baby'. I know you think of yourself as 'too different' to date a normal girl. But trust me – for the right guy, a girl will overlook any strangeness."_

** Cyborg listens as the preacher continues. Gentle tears fall from his one good eye. He silently mourns the loss of one of his dear friends. **

_"Starfire... for the first time in my life, I wore a skirt because of you. I know I didn't wear it outside of the mall's changing room, but I still think that's an accomplishment. I never thought I'd do anything so... 'girly'. But you've shown me that it's okay to be feminine and strong. I don't think any of the boys take you lightly. I wish I'd known that it was okay to act that way... when I was a child. Maybe then I wouldn't be the way I am now."_

** Starfire can't help herself anymore, and bursts into tears. The other Titans bow their heads... except for Beast Boy. He stares sadly at the coffin, tears forming in his eyes. **

_"Robin... I think we've done a good job. When I first started going to the coffee shop for poetry night, people would always ask me what it's like working with 'Batman's Sidekick'. They asked me that every, single, week. Until recently. Now, whenever they see us in the news, they ask me what it's like to work with 'Robin'. It may sound silly, but hearing that meant something to me. I was proud."_

** Robin steps up to the coffin to ritualistically pay his last respects to the dead. Robin stares silently at the coffin, his mask obscuring his eyes and any tears that might be in them. Silently, he puts the Teen Titans communicator in Raven's casket, then pats her folded hands in a friendly manner. He whispers a goodbye, then slowly turns away. **

_"Terra." *Raven sighs slowly, muttering the name to herself.* "You... I don't know what to think of you. Not yet. So far, you've come off as a scrawny, loud-mouthed brat who seems to think that I'm a rival or something. I don't know what we're competing over, but whatever it is, you can have it. If I'm dead now... I guess that means 'you win'. But whatever it is that separates us, I still think you're a decent person. I'm sure you'll serve the Teen Titans well, no matter what happens in the future."_

** Terra stands at the casket, her face covered by a black shawl to obscure her features. Slowly, she extends a hand towards Raven's and holds them. They were cold in her grip, but Terra still felt better doing it.

"Don't worry," she whispered softly. "I always keep my promises." She squeezed Raven's hand one last time, then turned away before she started crying again. **

_"Beast Boy." *Raven frowns at the camera, as if she's bored.* "You finally stopped pulling your silly pranks. I'm glad to have a little peace and quiet. But, then again... they say that you get used to things that irritate you, and you end up being unable to live without them." Raven chuckled to herself. "Maybe someday I'll be begging for your pranks. But I doubt it."_

** Beast Boy stands at the casket for a long time, his eyes looking round and sad like a puppy that's just been scolded. Beast Boy wiped his eyes to get rid of impending tears, then reached into his pocket. He pulls out a bundled-up handkerchief, and slowly unwraps it. **

_"I'm sure that when I'm gone, you'll be dying to find someone new to pull your pranks on. I wouldn't want you to lose your edge." *Raven smirks in amusement.* "I'd suggest pranking Starfire, but she could beat the crap out of you if you get her angry. Besides, you need to initiate that little blond girl. Give her a pie to the face for me."_

** Beast Boy places a pendant on Raven's pillow beside her beautiful, peaceful face. It's a medallion with a bird flying on one side, and a wolf running on the other. Engraved underneath these two animals is a single word: FOREVER.

Beast Boy leans into the casket, and gently kisses Raven's cheek. "...I'll never forget you." Beast Boy lingers there for a few moments before finally pulling away. He slowly closes the casket, and the other Titans come over to stand with him during the final reading in the church. As the preacher continues, Terra seeks consolation in Beast Boy's arms. They hold each silently, each mourning the loss of the one that saved them from death. 

"Ashes, to ashes. Dust, to dust." **

_"...Goodbye, everyone." ** Raven smiles calmly at the camera, then waves a finger in a gentle motion. The camera switches off, and shows static as the story fades to a close. **_

**THE END**


End file.
